Data retrieval apparatus, program and recording medium

ABSTRACT

[Problem] To provide a data retrieval tool for analyzing data including inconsistency that is difficult to cope with in a single cube. [Solution] This data retrieval tool is characterized in that data respectively obtained from a plurality of databases are integrated to prepare a plurality of retrieval results on the basis of different retrieval requests and a plurality of reports obtained from the plurality of retrieval results are automatically associated and manipulated, by integrating a function of a virtual database unit with a function of a business intelligence unit by means of integral software and controlling the integrated result with a single data dictionary capable of managing the associations between the different retrieval requests.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a data retrieval apparatus thatgenerally retrieves data from a plurality of databases.

BACKGROUND ART BI Tool

Business intelligence (BI) is a technique for a user attempting tofreely analyze necessary data by himself/herself from huge quantities ofdata in a company accumulated from business systems and the like andutilize the analyzed data for decision-making in the company such asmanagement plans and corporate strategies. A BI tool used for suchpurposes includes an intuitive human interface enabling a user toprovide interactive instructions so that even a user who does not haveintimate knowledge of systems and programming can use the tool, andallows retrieval and analysis using business terms that are usually usedand flexible reporting of retrieval and analysis results in variousformats.

OLAP

Data analysis with a BI tool is carried out using a technique ofmulti-dimensional analysis called online analytical processing (OLAP).

In the OLAP, data to be manipulated are handled as a cube having amulti-dimensional data structure defined as a set of multiple dataaggregate items (dimensions) and quantitative value items (measures)(CODD: multi-dimensional concept view).

Data are also complete and consistent, which is a prerequisite (CODD:generality of dimension, inter-dimensional calculation process withoutconstraints).

In the OLAP, analysis in a multi-dimensional aspect is, logically,conducted by extracting, typically, two-dimensional data from amulti-dimensional cube for analysis, displaying the extracted data in aform of a table, graph, chart, or the like, switching the display byanalytical manipulation such as slicing, dicing, and drill-down/roll-up,and repeating these manipulations.

Slicing Taking out only specific members of multi-dimensional data at asection, and putting the taken members into a two-dimensional table.

Dicing Switching between vertical and horizontal items, and putting anentirely different section of the multi-dimensional data into atwo-dimensional table.

Drill-down/roll-up Drill-down refers to manipulation of digging into anaggregate result to display more detailed breakdown data, and roll-uprefers to a reverse of the manipulation.

DWH, DM, ETL

Typically, in an organization such as a company, multiple businesssystems are in operation where data are dispersed over various sources,and such data once need to be consolidated for data analysis.

An example of a technique for accumulating data collected from multiplebusiness systems in time series, analyzing a large quantities of data,and making use of the analyzed data for decision making is a datawarehouse (DWH). A data mart (DM) is usually smaller than a datawarehouse, and collects data necessary for a specific theme or field andsupports executives making strategic decisions on business. A retrievalresult obtained through retrieval of data accumulated in a datawarehouse, a data mart, or the like is reorganized and used as amulti-dimensional and multi-level cube for OLAP analysis.

For storing data occurring in business systems in databases andconstructing a data warehouse or a data mart, ETL (extract, transform,and load) processes are required. ETL tools having functions necessaryfor a process of loading data into databases are often used recently,but this typically results in a complicated process since data areasynchronously supplied from a plurality of different informationsources.

CITATION LIST Patent Literature

Patent Literature 1: JP 3213585 B

SUMMARY OF INVENTION Technical Problem

The OLAP using a BI tool provides a technique for sophisticated dataanalysis on the assumption of a single cube having a multi-dimensionaldata structure.

In the real world, however, it is often difficult to obtain complete andconsistent data, and there are also cases where a significant cost isinvolved for data management or where important information is lostduring data management and aggregation.

Example of Inconsistency at Low Granularity (Detailed Data do notInclude Common Key Items)

Description will be made with reference to FIG. 1. Assume, for example,that a “sales amount” is defined for each product and each customer andthat a “purchase amount” is defined for each product and each vendor. A“gross profit amount” of a product can be calculate by [(sales amounttotaled for each product)—(purchase amount totaled for each product)].Furthermore, company-wide-level (company-level) “sales amount,”“purchase amount,” and “gross profit” can be reported (roll-up) bytotaling records of each product.

If a user wants to see details by customer from records by product,however, the details by customer cannot be drilled down from the samecube because the “purchase amount” and the “gross profit amount” bycustomer are not defined at a detail level.

In contrast, individual “sales amounts” can be totaled for each customerand each product, so that the company-level sales amount can bereported, which can be drilled down to details by customer and furtherto details by customer and product. This is similarly applied to the“purchase amount”.

In the case of this example, a value item (measure) “gross profitamount” is defined only at a high granularity (hierarchy level) where“customer” and “vendor” are not included in data aggregate items(dimensions), and “sales amount” is defined at all levels where “vendor”is not included while “purchase amount” is defined at all levels where“customer” is not included.

Thus, if all data of the “sales amount,” the “purchase amount,” and the“gross profit amount” are to be referred to, one cube for analysis isinsufficient for the reference but three cubes need to be provided.

Example of Inconsistency at High Granularity (Constraints andLimitations of Process for Integration into Aggregated Data)

Description will be made with reference to FIG. 2. For example, in amultinational company, since accounting is conducted in differentcurrencies in different countries, conversion into a reference currencyneeds to be carried out before totaling for accounting consolidation ofa plurality of companies. Since the currency exchange rates changehourly, it is possible to convert the currency at a rate at a certainpoint and prepare a report or make evaluation on a consolidated basis.In totaling using a reference currency, however, items such as theamount and the currency before conversion are omitted since such itemscannot be aggregated.

Furthermore, although the whole can be viewed macroscopically as aresult of data integration, a significantly large number of data becomeinvisible as a result of aggregation since legal systems, rules, systemsand the like are also different in companies in different countries.Thus, in analysis for the purpose of taking specific actions, individualoriginal data often need to be referred rather than aggregated data on aconsolidated basis.

Although data including inconsistency are present everywhere in the realworld, approaches for analyzing such data including inconsistency havenot been feasible for the reasons described below.

Limitations of Conventional Data Integration Technique (Single Cube)

With a single cube that is complete and consistent, data at a higherlevel can be generated by aggregation of data at a lower level, and thusit is sufficient to collect data of relatively small kinds from businesssystems and hold the collected data in databases.

Thus, conventionally, data limited to core data of a company arecollected from business systems, shaped (cleansed), and temporarilystored in a data warehouse or a data mart, and a cube is derivedtherefrom and provided for analysis as a multi-dimensional data modelthat is as complete and consistent as possible.

For analyzing data including inconsistency, however, a plurality ofcubes need to be built by avoiding inconsistent parts and dividingrespective data into parts that can be modeled. The number of cubesnecessary for this increases exponentially depending on the types ofdata including inconsistency and the number of items, and becomes anenormous number in theory if an attempt is made to cope with everycases, and it has therefore been deemed to be difficult to cope withsuch cases.

Owing to such factors as complication and diversification of corporateactivities and sophistication of administration, interests in managementhave expanded from specific problem domains to the whole corporateactivities, and any data inside and outside of a company areincreasingly likely to be subject of analysis accordingly.

The cost effectiveness of copying data in every business systems in acompany and providing the copies as data for analysis, however, isclearly unrealistic in view of the types and amount of data held by acompany.

In addition, in view of the time of batch processing required for dataduplication for updating a data warehouse while work data change everyminute, every day, it is difficult to provide latest data as data foranalysis.

Furthermore, in the first place, a considerable amount of engineeringwork is required for integrating data of multiple business systemsoperating individually, and the labor for the work rapidly increases asthe number of systems to be integrated increases. Only part of the data,however, are actually needed to be integrated and aggregated, and thereare many situations where direct analysis of data in business systems ismore effective than summarizing such data.

Thus, the conventional data integration technique of duplicating andreconstructing data all together and providing the data as a cube notincluding inconsistency is becoming less and less suitable forcompanies' needs requiring more sophisticated and wider analysis interms of cost, time, and information loss. Such a flexible approach thatis based on actual circumstances of users' needs for analysis in whichassociation is made within a range that can be made common for dataintegration as a whole while original data of business systems areutilized for direct analysis of respective data for details is deemed tobe ideal.

Limitation of OLAP Analysis based on Single Cube

In a typical OLAP analysis, data analysis can be efficiently performedon a single cube. In a case where data including inconsistency areanalyzed as a plurality of cubes associated with each other, however,although the cubes are closely related to one another, there have beenno technique for managing and utilizing the relation, and therefore thecubes can only be handled as totally different cubes.

Thus, even in a case where a cube is referred to while another cuberelated to the cube is being analyzed, user supports such as inheritanceof previous analysis results and guidance of related items are notprovided, and processing can only be started from the beginning, fromopening another new cube.

Limitation of Method for Expressing a Plurality of Cubes withConventional BI Tool

A BI tool logically builds a multi-dimensional cube for analysis fromone piece of data, takes data from the cube to display the databasically in a format of a two-dimensional table, graph or the like, andswitches the display by analytical manipulation of slicing, dicing, ordrill-down for analysis of multi-dimensional aspects.

In handling data including inconsistency, however, since associatedcontents of a plurality of data need to be comprehensively recognized,expression only with a simple two-dimensional table or graph isdifficult.

For this purpose, a dashboard in which data collected from variousinformation sources are arranged as a plurality of graphical reports onone screen, which allows display of information from various viewpointsall together, for example, is a considerably effective technique. In adashboard of a conventional BI tool, however, extracted information canbe statically arranged and displayed, but the function of performingslicing or drill-down on a plurality of cubes for different data alltogether at the same time cannot be supported because the relevancebetween items of different data cannot be defined, and analysis inmulti-dimensional aspects of data including inconsistency has been verytroublesome.

Furthermore, in transition from a report to another report on differentdata associated therewith, a unit for defining the relevance betweendata is not provided, and in addition, there are many cases that do notapply to simple analysis manipulation such as slicing, dicing, anddrill-down based on a single cube, and it is very difficult to achievetransition between reports on different data with the conventional BItool.

An object of the present invention is therefore to provide a dataretrieval tool for analyzing data including inconsistency that isdifficult to cope with in a single cube in such a case as collecting andanalyzing relevant data dispersed over multiple business systems in acompany or the like.

Solution to Problem

To achieve the aforementioned object, the present invention basicallyprovides a data retrieval tool configured to:

integrate a function of a virtual database with a function of a BI toolinto integral software; and

control the integral software with a single data dictionary capable ofmanaging data associations between a plurality of retrievals, so as to:

integrate data respectively obtained from a plurality of databases toprepare a retrieval result,

prepare a plurality of reports from a plurality of retrieval resultsdepending on uses and purposes, and

automatically associate and manipulate the prepared reports.

Virtual Database Function of Integrating Data from a Plurality ofDatabases

In the conventional technique, a plurality of dispersed related data areduplicated and stored in a data warehouse or the like, and a cube foranalysis is derived therefrom. With the conventional technique, however,in a case where data including inconsistency are to be analyzed, thetypes and amount of data to be accumulated will be enormous since cubesfor analysis are different depending on situations and patterns.

In contrast, with a virtual database (also called an enterpriseinformation integration (EII) or a Federated database system), a usercan perform retrieval from a plurality of databases by a single inquirywithout moving or duplicating dispersed data. A virtual database is alogical database only having various definitions and rules, and actualdata are virtually generated in real time at the time of execution fromonly necessary data.

Thus, a virtual database is flexible since wasteful data duplication isnot necessary, is likely to cope with an increase in the volume of workdata and an increase in the number of databases, and enables dataintegration over a plurality of data warehouses and data marts and dataintegration with external data. In addition, the cost for a server or adatabase for storing duplicated data is not needed, and operational andmaintenance costs for data management, data quality maintenance, systemrepair and modification can be reduced. Furthermore, a virtual databasehas advantages in that data reconstruction work like that of a DWH isnot needed and no time lag for data generation is caused, which allowsacquisition of recent data in real time and preparation of reportsreflecting latest business conditions.

Use of the virtual database function allows acquisition of data requiredeach time and provision of data in a pseudo multi-dimensional data modeldata for analysis without copying and accumulating data from businesssystems and the like and permanently holding such data.

Data Dictionary Function of Associating a Plurality of Prepared Reports

The data dictionary includes virtual data structure definitioninformation, presentation structure definition information, andretrieval request definition information. The virtual data structuredefinition information flexibly defines a data structure from aviewpoint unique to a user depending on uses and purposes and completelyindependent of the physical data structure, in addition to thedefinition information of the physical data structure such as tables anditems stored in a plurality of databases from which data are to beretrieved, and includes definition for converting data having thephysical data structure into data having a requested data structure byintegrating and editing the data. The presentation structure definitioninformation includes definition for assisting user's input to issue aretrieval request compliant with retrieval requirements. Furthermore,the retrieval request definition information is for managing therelevance between different retrieval requests.

As a result of defining the relevance between different retrievalrequests and including definition information of globally identifiabledata items and definition information of compounded or hierarchical dataitems, the data dictionary enables management of the commonality and therelevance of data items and data levels between a plurality of retrievalresults acquired by a retrieval request issued on the basis of thevirtual data structure or a plurality of reports prepared from retrievalresults.

BI Function of Associating and Manipulating a Plurality of Reports

A typical BI tool has a function of handling a single report such asirregular retrieval, regular retrieval, and report referencing, and iscapable of moving to a related report by data analysis manipulation ofslicing, dicing, and drill-down within a range where a single retrievalresult is to be obtained.

In addition, according to the present invention, since the relevancebetween a plurality of retrieval requests can be managed by a datadictionary, the function of a virtual database and the function of a BItool are integrated, allowing data including inconsistency to behandled. Thus, the present invention has a function of retrieval linkcapable of also associating reports from different retrieval resultswith each other, which achieves movement to an associated report whileinheriting extraction conditions and selections of the current report tothe associated report.

In addition, the present invention achieves a function of performingdata analysis manipulations on a plurality of reports referring todifferent retrieval results all together even in a dashboard in which aplurality of reports are arranged on one screen.

Specifically, a data retrieval apparatus according to the presentinvention has the following features.

A first aspect of the present invention is a data retrieval apparatusthat retrieves data from two or more databases (1) that return retrieveddata in response to a retrieval instruction.

The data retrieval apparatus includes: a data dictionary (10) includingpresentation structure definition information for assisting input of auser terminal (2) to issue a retrieval request compliant with aretrieval requirement, virtual data structure definition information foranalyzing the retrieval request and converting the retrieval requestinto a retrieval instruction expressed as physical informationprocessable by the database (1), and retrieval request definitioninformation for managing relevance between different retrieval requests;a business intelligence unit (30) for assisting input of the userterminal (2) according to the presentation structure defined in the datadictionary (10) to issue a retrieval request described according to thepresentation structure and output a retrieval result based on thevirtual data structure, the retrieval result being obtained by executingthe retrieval request by a virtual database unit (20) to the userterminal (2); and a virtual database unit (20) for analyzing theretrieval request according to the virtual data structure defined in thedata dictionary (10) to generate a retrieval instruction, executing thegenerated retrieval instruction in the database (1) to acquire two ormore retrieved data, and integrating the acquired two or more retrieveddata to prepare a retrieval result responding to the retrieval request,wherein a plurality of retrieval results prepared in response todifferent retrieval requests can be associated with each other by theretrieval request definition information.

More specifically, the data dictionary (10) preferably includes physicaldata structure definition information on the database (1) that returnsretrieved data in response to a retrieval instruction, virtual datastructure definition information for writing a retrieval requestcompliant with retrieval requirements, converting the retrieval requestinto a retrieval instruction expressed in a physical data structure thatcan be processed in the database (1) and preparing a retrieval resultresponding to the retrieval request on the basis of retrieved dataacquired from the database (1), and presentation structure definitioninformation for assisting input of the user terminal (2) to issue aretrieval request compliant with retrieval requirements and outputtingthe retrieval result to the user terminal (2), and the presentationstructure definition information preferably has retrieval requestdefinition information for managing relevance between differentretrieval requests.

The virtual database unit (20) and the business intelligence unit (30)preferably perform control on the basis of retrieval request definitioninformation that manages the relevance between different retrievalrequests contained in the data dictionary (10).

Specifically, when the virtual database unit (20) has prepared aplurality of retrieval results in response to different retrievalrequests associated by the retrieval request definition information, thevirtual database unit (20) automatically associates the preparedretrieval results with each other, and the business intelligence unit(30) preferably prepares a plurality of reports respectively from theretrieval results associated by the virtual database unit (20), andautomatically associates the prepared reports with each other.

The business intelligence unit (30) preferably includes: a retrievalrequest issuing unit (31) that assists the user terminal (2) accordingto the presentation structure in the data dictionary (10) to issue aretrieval request based on the presentation structure to the virtualdatabase unit (20); and a report output unit (32) that prepares a reportfrom the retrieval result acquired from the virtual database unit (20),and sends the report to the user terminal (2).

The business intelligence unit (30) is preferably configured to displaya plurality of reports prepared from a plurality of retrieval resultsacquired by executing a plurality of retrieval requests sequentially orsimultaneously; and associate and manipulate a plurality of reports witheach other by the retrieval request definition information that managesrelevance between different retrieval requests contained in the datadictionary (10).

The business intelligence unit (30) is preferably configured to:associate a first retrieval request with a second retrieval request asrelevant retrieval; and execute the first retrieval request to display afirst retrieval result in the user terminal (2), and select datacontained in the first retrieval result and instruct a link to thesecond retrieval request, so as to: inherit an item and a conditionvalue of an extraction condition contained in the first retrievalrequest and an item and a display value associated with data selectedfrom the first retrieval result to the second retrieval request; andwhen an associated item associated with the item inherited from thefirst retrieval request is present in an extraction condition of thesecond retrieval request, replace a condition value of the associateditem with the condition value inherited from the first retrievalrequest, execute the second retrieval request, and display a secondretrieval result.

The business intelligence unit (30) is preferably configured to: preparea dashboard including a plurality of reports output from a plurality ofretrieval results, the reports being arranged on one screen; when datacontained in a retrieval result of one of the reports within thedashboard are selected, inherit an index item and a display valueassociated with the selected data to another report within thedashboard; and when an item associated with the index item inherited toan extraction condition of a retrieval request of the another report ispresent, replace a condition value of the extraction condition with adisplay value to which the condition value is inherited, execute aretrieval request to display a new retrieval result, so as to manipulatea plurality of reports within the dashboard in conjunction with eachother.

The report output unit (32) of the business intelligence unit (30) ispreferably configured to: perform aggregation operation on a combinationof index items with same aggregation level all together when a retrievalrequest contains a plurality of classifiable index items (dimensions)and one or more aggregable value items (measures). When two or moreaggregation levels for assigning orders to the index items are set, indisplaying a retrieval result at a certain aggregation level on the userterminal (2), the report output unit (32) preferably displays onlyvalues of index items at a level higher than the certain aggregationlevel, and displays an aggregation value obtained by aggregation of onlyindex items at a level higher than the certain aggregation level in thevalue items; and when the user terminal (2) has selected specific datain the retrieval result at the certain aggregation level, displaysdetailed records at an aggregation level lower by one level having anindex item equal to the displayed index item of the selected specificdata on the user terminal (2).

The business intelligence unit (30) preferably has a library managementunit (33) capable of saving a retrieval request once prepared by theuser terminal (2) and reading the retrieval request for reuse, and thebusiness intelligence unit (30) preferably sets a user terminal (2)capable of using the library management unit (33) according to userauthority to allow the retrieval request to be shared depending on apurpose of use.

The business intelligence unit (30) preferably includes a retrievalhistory management unit (34) capable of saving a retrieval resultresponding to a retrieval request for a predetermined period or for apredetermined number of history records specified by the user terminal(2), and when the user terminal (2) has specified a retrieval requestfrom a library, a list of retrieval results responding to the retrievalrequest is displayed, and a retrieval result is specified from the list,so that the retrieval result can be directly referred to.

The retrieval request issuing unit (31) is, preferably, capable ofhandling a set item expressing a plurality of associated items by oneconcept, when the set item is specified in an extraction condition of aretrieval request, the retrieval request issuing unit (31) is,preferably, capable of setting a condition value while referring tovalues of the associated items, and the associated items are,preferably, automatically added to a display item of a retrieval resultby an input operation of the user terminal (2) to add the set item tothe display item of the retrieval result.

The set item of the retrieval request issuing unit (31) is preferablyconstituted by one or more items in hierarchical relation with eachother, when a value is selected from a list of items at an upper levelon a screen of the user terminal (2), a list of values of items at alower level associated with the selected value is preferably displayed,and the user terminal (2) is preferably capable of specifying a value tobe an extraction condition for retrieval from the values displayed onthe list of any level.

The virtual database unit (20) preferably includes a retrieval requesttranslation unit (21) that analyzes the retrieval request describedaccording to the virtual data structure and generates one or moreretrieval instructions for retrieval from the databases (1); a retrievalinstruction execution unit (22) that executes the retrieval instructiongenerated by the retrieval request translation unit (21) on any one ormore of the databases (1) to acquire one or more retrieved data; and adata integration processing unit (23) that integrates and processes theretrieved data acquired by the retrieval instruction execution unit (22)to prepare a retrieval result responding to a data retrieval request.

The retrieval request translation unit (21) is preferably configured to:analyze the retrieval request according to the virtual data structure inthe data dictionary (10); generate a retrieval instruction executable ona database to retrieve data from and one or more retrieval instructionsexecutable by the data integration processing unit (23); and input anoutput of a retrieval instruction from a data integration processingunit (23) as a retrieval instruction to another data integrationprocessing unit (23), so as to generate retrieval instruction to performdata integration processing in multiple stages.

The retrieval request translation unit (21) is preferably configured to:convert and apply an extraction condition for the virtual database unit(20) indicated in a retrieval request into a retrieval instruction tothe database (1); execute classification and totaling requested in aretrieval request in advance in the database (1); and performingprocessing of referring to a master managing a subject static attributeat a stage after data have been aggregated without performing theprocessing during retrieval of detailed data, so as to optimize theretrieval instruction to minimize a data amount transmitted from thedatabase (1).

When the database supports an SQL language as a retrieval interface, theretrieval instruction execution unit (22) preferably includes at leastone of: a retrieval instruction execution unit for retrieval using theSQL from a physical table of the database; a retrieval instructionexecution unit for retrieval using a stored procedure stored in thedatabase; and

a retrieval instruction execution unit that performs retrieval againfrom a retrieval result of retrieval defined directly by the SQLlanguage of the database, when the database does not support the SQLlanguage as a retrieval interface, the retrieval instruction executionunit preferably includes a retrieval instruction execution unitcorresponding to a retrieval interface of the database, and when thedatabase is a data file on a file system, the retrieval instructionexecution unit preferably includes a retrieval instruction executionunit supporting for the data file.

The data integration processing unit (23) is preferably capable ofreceiving as input one or more of intermediate retrieved data acquiredby the retrieval instruction execution unit (22) or result data outputby another data integration processing unit (23), performing dataintegration and data processing, and outputting result data in a form ofone table, and further passing the result data as input to another dataintegration processing unit (23), so as to perform data integrationprocessing in multiple stages.

The data integration processing unit (23) preferably includes any one ormore data integration schemes including: a merge scheme of mergingintermediate data obtained by extracting and totaling data from therespective databases and then aggregating the merged data with a key; aselection scheme of automatically selecting, extracting, and totalingdata to be retrieved from retrieval candidates in a plurality ofdatabases according to a content of a retrieval request; and a referencescheme of acquiring reference data from one database according to areference condition predefined for each of records of intermediate dataacquired from another database, and complimenting an item missing fromthe intermediate data with an item from the reference data, and the dataintegration processing unit (23) is preferably capable of selecting anoptimum scheme from the data integration schemes.

The reference scheme of the data integration schemes of the dataintegration processing unit (23) preferably includes one or more dataintegration schemes including: a successive reference scheme ofperforming sequential retrieval from a database for respective recordsof intermediate data obtained by extraction and totaling from anotherdatabase according to a join condition, and integrating retrieved data;a batch join scheme of transferring intermediate data extracted andtotaled from one database to one database management system, andintegrating the transferred intermediate data together or integratingthe intermediate data and data in the database management system by ajoin function of the database management system; and a sequential mergescheme of acquiring data to be retrieved from a reference source anddata to be retrieved from a referenced database, rearranging theacquired data in an order of condition values of reference conditions,and thereafter, while sequentially reading reference source records andreferenced database records one by one, comparing the condition valuesof the reference conditions, and integrate records where the referenceconditions are satisfied, and the data integration processing unit (23)is preferably capable of selecting an optimum scheme from the dataintegration schemes.

The data integration processing unit (23) preferably has functions of aclassification and aggregation process of grouping data by a key itemand aggregating values of attribute items for each group, a data editingprocess on values of items, a data extraction process according to adetermination condition, and a sorting process according tospecification of an outputting order, and the data integrationprocessing unit (23) is preferably capable of dealing with computationdependent on relation between records and an order of records.

The data integration processing unit (23) is preferably capable ofoutputting result data resulting from data integration and dataprocessing to any of external output destinations including: thebusiness intelligence unit (30); another data integration processingunit (23); a table in a database; a data filed stored in a file system;and a data stream transmitted via a network.

The data integration processing unit (23) preferably includes aretrieved data cache that prepares in advance table data resulting froma data integration process or intermediate retrieved data prepared bydivision resulting from execution of a retrieval instruction, storingthe prepared data in an external storage area, and referring to datastored in the external storage area instead of a database duringexecution of retrieval.

The database (1) preferably includes at least one of a relationaldatabase, an object-oriented database, an XML database, a file system, aURL directory management system, a data warehouse, and a data mart.

A second aspect of the present invention is a program causing a computerto function as a data retrieval apparatus that retrieves data from twoor more databases (1) that return retrieved data in response to aretrieval instruction.

The program causes the computer to function as the data retrievalapparatus including: a data dictionary (10) including presentationstructure definition information for assisting input of a user terminal(2) to issue a retrieval request compliant with a retrieval requirement,virtual data structure definition information for analyzing theretrieval request and converting the retrieval request into a retrievalinstruction expressed as physical information processable by thedatabase (1), and retrieval request definition information for managingrelevance between different retrieval requests; a business intelligenceunit (30) for assisting input of the user terminal (2) according to thepresentation structure defined in the data dictionary (10) to issue aretrieval request described according to the presentation structure andoutput a retrieval result based on the virtual data structure, theretrieval result being obtained by executing the retrieval request by avirtual database unit (20) to the user terminal (2); and a virtualdatabase unit (20) for analyzing the retrieval request according to thevirtual data structure defined in the data dictionary (10) to generate aretrieval instruction, executing the generated retrieval instruction inthe database (1) to acquire two or more retrieved data, and integratingthe acquired two or more retrieved data to prepare a retrieval resultresponding to the retrieval request, wherein a plurality of retrievalresults prepared in response to different retrieval requests can beassociated with each other by the retrieval request definitioninformation.

A third aspect of the present invention is a computer-readable recordingmedium having the program stored thereon.

Advantageous Effects of Invention

The present invention is provided with a data dictionary capable ofmanaging relevance between a plurality of retrieval requests andintegrates a virtual database and a BI tool as integral software, andthus exhibits a function of directly acquiring data from a plurality ofdatabases, a function of associating and preparing a plurality ofretrieval results depending on uses and purposes, and a function ofassociating and manipulating a plurality of reports from a plurality ofretrieval results. Thus, according to the present invention, analysis ofdata including consistency, which is difficult to cope with by a singlecube becomes easier. As a result, from the viewpoint of users, since avirtual data structure can be flexibly prepared according to the usesand purposes of the users, highly flexible and fine analysis where awhole is analyzed after data integration through association whiledetails are analyzed by direct analysis of data in respective businesssystems can be readily achieved.

As described above, the present invention is characterized in includingboth the functions of a BI tool and the functions of a virtual databaseand in that the respective functions are driven by a common datadictionary. As a result of using common data structure definition for adata structure definition for retrieval by a BI tool and a datastructure definition provided by a virtual database, the provisionfunction of the virtual database naturally satisfies necessary andsufficient retrieval requirements of the BI tool, which significantlymakes analysis and design processes simpler. In addition, while it isdifficult through requirement analysis by the BI to properly recognizeusers' needs in advance and addition and modification of requirementsoften occur during construction or even after completion, the integratedmanagement of the data structure definitions of the BI tool and thevirtual database with the data dictionary clarifies the range ofinfluence of the addition and modification of user requirements and alsosignificantly increases the efficiency of system maintenance process.

Furthermore, since a common data analysis unit can be used from topmanagement analysis of an organization to analysis of individual work onsites, information sharing and smooth communication are enhanced in anorganization.

Furthermore, in terms of systems, it is no longer needed to copy a largeamount of data collectively in multiple business systems within acompany and reconstruct and store the copy in a data warehouse or thelike for data analysis. Since analysis data become readily availableonly by defining a virtual data structure in a data dictionary,development can be achieved in a very short term and at a very low cost.

Furthermore, since data of the entire company can be systematicallymanaged in an integrated manner, there is also an advantage ofincreasing the efficiency of access management and quality managementrelating to data.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates an example of inconsistency at low granularity.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example of inconsistency at high granularity.

FIG. 3 illustrates an overall configuration of a system.

FIG. 4 illustrates a concept a process for analyzing data includinginconsistency.

FIG. 5 illustrates an outline of a data structure of a data dictionary.

FIG. 6 illustrates functional blocks of a business intelligence unit.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example of a screen for issuing a retrievalrequest.

FIG. 8 illustrates an example of a screen for library management.

FIG. 9 illustrates an example of screen operation of a retrieval link.

FIG. 10 illustrates a flowchart of a process for inheritance ofextraction conditions and selections through a retrieval link.

FIG. 11 illustrates an example of a screen for setting extractioncondition linking between a plurality of reports in a dashboard.

FIG. 12 illustrates an example of manipulation of a screen for settingan extraction condition in a class virtual item.

FIG. 13 illustrates functional blocks of a virtual database unit.

FIG. 14 illustrates concepts of processing in a plurality of dataintegration schemes.

FIG. 15A illustrates concepts of processing in a successive referencescheme and a batch join scheme.

FIG. 15B illustrates a concept of processing in a sequential matchingscheme.

FIG. 16 illustrates a concept of processing in a sequential mergescheme.

FIG. 17 illustrates a flowchart of processing in the sequential mergescheme.

FIG. 18 illustrates a concept of processing of a data cache.

FIG. 19 illustrates a concept of processing of multi-stage dataintegration processing unit.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

An embodiment of the present invention will now be described withreference to the drawings. The present invention is not limited to theembodiment described below but includes modifications within a scopeobvious from the embodiments below to a person skilled in the art asappropriate.

Configuration Diagram of Overall System

FIG. 3 illustrates an overall configuration of a data retrievalapparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. A dataretrieval apparatus 100 is a data retrieval apparatus that uses two ormore databases 1, which return retrieved data in response to a retrievalinstruction, as data sources. The data retrieval apparatus 100 isconnected to two or more external databases 1, one or more external userterminals 2, and one or more external administrator terminals 3.Furthermore, the data retrieval apparatus 100 includes a data dictionary10, a virtual database unit 20, and a business intelligence unit 30. Thedata retrieval apparatus 100 can also include a data dictionary editingunit 40 connected to an external administrator terminal 2.

Cases where two or more databases are connected as databases 1 includenot only a case where two or more physically separate databases are usedbut also a case where physically one database is logically divided intotwo or more databases for such a reason as different types of data arecontained.

Conceptual Diagram of Process for Analyzing Data Including Inconsistency

FIG. 4 is a conceptual diagram of a process for analyzing data includinginconsistency that are difficult to cope with, with a single cubeperformed with use of the data retrieval apparatus 100.

In the example illustrated in FIG. 4, a retrieval request 1 and aretrieval request 2 are different in subjects (such as databases) fromwhich data are to be retrieved. The retrieval request 1 and theretrieval request 2, however, are associated with each other in thecontent to be retrieved. The retrieval request 1 and the retrievalrequest 2 are thus associated as relevant retrieval on the basis ofdefinitions of relevance between retrieval requests to the datadictionary 10 (retrieval request definition information). Theassociation between retrieval requests can be freely made by a userusing a retrieval request entry screen or the like.

As a result of associating the retrieval request 1 and the retrievalrequest 2 with each other in this manner in the data dictionary 10, areport 1 prepared from a retrieval result 1 obtained by execution of theretrieval request 1 and a report 2 prepared from a retrieval result 2obtained by execution of the retrieval request 2 can be associated witheach other on the basis of the relevance between the retrieval requests.This achieves a retrieval link function of moving to an associatedreport while inheriting extraction conditions and selections of acurrent report to the associated report. Since a plurality of retrievalresults prepared from different retrieval requests are associated inthis manner and it is possible to readily move between reports evenbetween different retrieval results, data including consistency that aredifficult to cope with by a single cube can be efficiently analyzed.

Specifically, a user first sets extraction conditions, a way of outputand the like depending on uses and purposes through a retrieval requestentry screen of the business intelligence unit 30, and issues aretrieval request 1 to the virtual database unit 20. The virtualdatabase unit 20 issues retrieval instructions to some of a plurality ofdatabases 1 to execute retrievals on the basis of the received retrievalrequest 1, and integrates two or more retrieved data obtained by therespective retrievals to prepare a retrieval result 1. The businessintelligence unit 30 builds a multi-dimensional cube for analysis fromthe prepared retrieval result 1, and displays one section of the cube asa report 1. An OLAP analysis operation of slicing, dicing, or drill-downcan be instructed on the displayed report 1, so that the display of thecube of the retrieval result 1 can be switched to another section.

Furthermore, the business intelligence unit 30 provides a retrieval linkfunction for calling a retrieval request 2 from the report 1 prepared onthe basis of the retrieval request 1, on the basis of definition ofrelevance between the retrieval request 1 and the retrieval request 2 inthe data dictionary 10. In calling the retrieval request 2 from thereport 1, items and condition values of the extraction conditioncontained in the retrieval request 1 and items and display valuesassociated with data selected with a mouse or a keyboard by a user forthe displayed report 1 are inherited to the retrieval request 2. If anassociated item associated with an item inherited from the retrievalrequest 1 is present in the extraction condition of the retrievalrequest 2, the condition values of the associated item are replaced withthe condition values inherited from the retrieval request 1 before theretrieval request 2 is issued. In this manner, the business intelligenceunit 30 issues the retrieval request 2 to the virtual database 20. Thevirtual database unit 20 then executes the retrieval request 2 toprepare a retrieval result 2, and passes the retrieval result 2 to thebusiness intelligence unit 30. The business intelligence unit 30 buildsa multi-dimensional cube for analysis from the retrieval result 2, anddisplays one section of the cube as a report 2. As a result, dataassociated with those selected by the user in the report 1 can beautomatically retrieved from a different viewpoint with the retrievalrequest 2 and displayed as the report 2. An OLAP analysis operation ofslicing, dicing, or drill-down can be instructed on the displayed report2, similarly to the report 1 described above, so that the display of thecube of the retrieval result 2 can be switched to another section.

Note that the movement from the report 1 to the report 2 can beautomatically carried out without human intervention. Thus, as a resultof defining the relevance between the retrieval request 1 and theretrieval request 2 by the data dictionary 10, the report 1 preparedfrom the retrieval result 1 obtained by executing the retrieval request1 and the report 2 prepared from the retrieval result 2 obtained byexecuting the retrieval request 2 can be associated with each other, andit is possible to readily move between reports even between differentretrieval results.

In addition, in a dashboard where a plurality of reports prepared fromdifferent retrieval requests are arranged on one screen, reports cansimilarly be associated on the basis of definition of the relevancebetween retrieval requests. On the basis of the association betweenreports, an OLAP analysis operation of slicing, dicing, or drilling-downa plurality of reports prepared from different data arranged in adashboard can be achieved.

Data Structure of Data Dictionary

FIG. 5 is a class diagram expressing an outline of a data structure ofthe data dictionary 10.

The data dictionary 10 is constituted by three levels including physicaldata structure definition information, virtual data structure definitioninformation, and presentation structure definition information. Thephysical data structure definition information is connected with each ofa plurality of databases 1 from which data are to be retrieved, anddefines a physical data structure including tables and items necessaryfor data retrieval. The virtual data structure definition information iscompletely independent of the physical data structure, flexibly definesa data structure from a viewpoint of data usage depending on uses andpurposes, and defines a virtual data structure including a definitionfor converting physical data into a requested data structure. Thepresentation structure definition information defines a presentationstructure for assisting user's input to issue a retrieval requestcompliant with retrieval requirements.

The physical data structure definition information is basically the sameas a database or a copy of a necessary part from a database. The virtualdata structure definition information is usually built by a systemadministrator having knowledge of databases depending on the needs ofdata use. In contrast, the presentation structure definition informationmay be able to be added or updated by a user as necessary depending onthe authority and the role of the user.

Physical Data Structure

The data dictionary 10 is connected to external databases from whichdata are to be retrieved via the virtual database unit 20, and definesinformation necessary for data retrieval as a physical data structure.The number of databases to be connected to is preferably two or more.Cases where the number of databases is two or more include not only acase where two or more physically separate databases are used but also acase where a database is logically divided into two or more databasesfor such a reason as different types of data are contained.

The physical data structure definition information is constituted bydefinition information of a “physical database” that is a definition ofa database from which data are to be retrieved, a “physical table”included in the physical database, and a “physical item” contained inthe physical table.

The definition information of “physical database” is definitioninformation defining information unique to the database such asprocedures for connecting to the database, data types that the databasecan handle, the types of functions provided in the database. When dataare to be retrieved from a plurality of databases, a plurality of“physical databases” are defined.

The definition information of “physical table” is the same definitioninformation as the definition of a table stored in the database or acopy of a necessary part from the table.

The definition of “physical item” is the same definition information asthe definition of items (fields) contained in a physical table in thedatabase or a copy of a necessary part from the items.

Virtual Data Structure

In the data dictionary 10, the virtual data structure defines a datastructure as viewed from a viewpoint of a user or business. The virtualdata structure definition information basically includes definitioninformation of a “virtual database,” which is the entire virtual datastructure, a “virtual table” included in the virtual database, and a“virtual item” contained in the virtual table.

In a case where a plurality of independent users or businesses to besubjects is present definition information of a plurality of “virtualdatabases” may be defined.

The definition information of “virtual table” is a set of virtual itemscapable of generating a logically complete and consistentmulti-dimensional data model. Virtual items contained in one virtualtable can be freely combined to define a retrieval, and prepare a cubefrom acquired data.

The definition information of “virtual item” defines an attribute suchas a feature or a property of an entity representing what can bespecifically identified as a subject to be recognized in work andsystems (for example, “customer,” “product,” “purchase order,” “salesamount,” etc.). The definition information of “virtual item” includes adefinition for integrating a plurality of physical items havingdifferent item names into logically one virtual item. Specifically, aplurality of physical items having different item names are physicallytreated as different items. Even a plurality of physical items havingdifferent item names may be, however, logically the same item. Thus,association between a plurality of physical items having different itemnames is defined in the definition information of “virtual item,” sothat these physical items can be treated as the same virtual item.

Furthermore, the virtual data structure preferably has definitioninformation of “virtual table item” indicating association of “virtualitem” with “virtual table”. In the present embodiment, a virtual itemsubordinate to a virtual table is not directly defined. In other words,in the present embodiment, a virtual item is defined independently of avirtual table in a virtual database so that virtual items are associatedbetween different virtual tables, and association of a virtual item witha virtual table is associated as “virtual table item”. Thus, the samevirtual item is assigned to logically the same items in differentvirtual tables.

As a result of providing the definition information of “virtual tableitem” in this manner, whether or not items in different virtual tablesare the same virtual item can be determined, which ensures that itemsthat are the same virtual item have common attributes. Thus, referenceto the virtual table item enables inheritance of extraction conditionsand selection conditions even between retrieval results prepared byretrieval from different virtual tables.

Note that, in the present embodiment, the determination on whether itemsare the same item in different virtual tables in the same virtualdatabase is made on the basis of a constraint that the name of a virtualitem is unique within a virtual database. The determination on whetheritems are the same item, however, can be made in other manners. Inaddition, if the names of virtual items, which are different indifferent virtual tables” are to be displayed, virtual table items canbe given different names in different virtual tables.

Furthermore, in the present embodiment, determination on whether itemsin different virtual databases are the same item is made in such amanner that virtual items are defined for each virtual table in advance,and definition information on the same virtual items in differentvirtual tables is added to the respective virtual items thereafter.

The definition information of “virtual table item” included in “virtualtable” is classified as an item treated as a data aggregate item(dimension) in a cube or an item treated as a value item (measure) in acube.

Furthermore, the definition information of “virtual table item” candefine one virtual item (class virtual item) as a set of a plurality ofassociated virtual items so as to express an entity having a pluralityof attributes, in addition to an ordinary, simple data type such as acharacter type, a numeric type, and a date type. In particular, ahierarchical class virtual item can be defined for a set of a pluralityof virtual items that are hierarchically associated with each other.

Furthermore, the virtual data structure definition information includesdefinition information necessary for converting data stored in aplurality of databases having the physical data structure into virtualdata having the virtual data structure by using a function of thevirtual database. The virtual data structure therefor includesdefinition information of “calculation table,” “calculation item,”“physical table join definition,” and “calculation table applicationdefinition,” for example.

The definition information of “calculation table” is constituted bydefinition information of “external calculation table” that directlyretrieves data from an external database and definition information of“internal calculation table” that directly retrieves data from othercalculation tables including an external calculation table.

At most one piece of definition information of “calculation item” isdefined for each of virtual items in each calculation table. In a casewhere no calculation item is defined for a virtual item in a calculationtable, the virtual item cannot be calculated by the calculation table.

External Calculation Table

The definition information of “external calculation table” is definitioninformation on a set of calculation items capable of being calculated atthe same time from a database, and an external calculation table isassociated with one database.

In a case where a database supports the SQL language as a retrievalinterface, the definition information of “external calculation table”includes any of a retrieval section for retrieval using the SQL from aphysical table of the database, a retrieval section using a storedprocedure stored in the database, or a retrieval section (internal view)that retrieves a retrieval result again from a retrieval result ofretrieval defined directly by the SQL language of the database. In acase where a database does not support the SQL language as a retrievalinterface, the external calculation table includes a retrieval sectioncorresponding to a retrieval interface of the database. In a case wherea database is a data file on a file system, the external calculationtable can also include an execution unit that executes a retrievalinstruction for the data file.

In addition, the definition information of “external calculation table”defines mutual join conditions of a plurality of physical tables by“physical table join definition,” so that a plurality of physical tablescontained in the database are subject of retrieval. The “physical tablejoin definition” is expressed as a tree structure in which a physicaltable used as a reference by default in an external calculation table isthe uppermost-level root and physical tables joined and referred to in acomplementary manner are lower-level child, or a network structure.Specifically, this definition information automatically adds necessaryjoin conditions between physical tables during generation of a databaseretrieval instruction.

A calculation item of the external calculation table includes a physicalitem of a physical table defined to be joined, and definitioninformation such as a calculation definition formula and a selectioncondition formula described with a grammar unique to the database, andthe like. The calculation item of the external calculation table is usedto automatically add a method for calculating the calculation itemduring generation of a database retrieval instruction.

Internal Calculation Table

The definition information of “internal calculation table” can definedata integration processing of receiving outputs from one or more othercalculation tables including an external calculation table as inputs,integrating the inputs into one processing result, and outputting theprocessing result. In addition, a calculation item of the internalcalculation table can define an instruction relating to data processingsuch as item editing, classification and aggregation, and rearrangement.

Calculation Table Application Definition

The “calculation table application definition” is definition informationof the relation of a calculation table applicable to a specific virtualtable during retrieval. In the present embodiment, the “calculationtable application definition” is expressed as a tree structure in whichone internal calculation table corresponding to a virtual table is theuppermost-level root and one or more external calculation tables areterminal leaves, or can alternatively be expressed as a networkstructure.

One or more calculation tables can be arranged under one internalcalculation table, and outputs of the calculation tables at the lowerlevel are input to the internal calculation table at the upper level. Amethod for integrating outputs from a plurality of calculation tables atthe lower level by the internal calculation table at the upper level canbe included in the calculation table application definition. In thepresent embodiment, a merge scheme, a selection scheme, a referencescheme, or any combination thereof can be specified.

The calculation table application definition has, in a most simpleconfiguration, one internal calculation table at an upper level and oneexternal calculation table at a lower level. In a more complicated case,the calculation table application definition has internal calculationtables at a plurality of upper levels and a plurality of externalcalculation tables at the lowermost level.

Alternatively, the calculation table application definition can beexpressed as a network structure. In this case, the internal calculationtable receives outputs from one or more other calculation tables asinputs, integrates the inputs, and outputs one or more processingresults classified depending on conditions.

Presentation Structure

In the data dictionary 10, the presentation structure can includedefinition for assisting user's input to issue a retrieval requestcompliant with retrieval requirements, and definition for outputting aretrieval result to the user.

The definition information of “retrieval request” includes definitioninformation of “retrieval table” indicating a virtual table that is asubject of retrieval, “extraction condition” indicating a data retrievalrange in the virtual table, and “display item” indicating a virtual itemfor which data are to be acquired as a retrieval result. In a case wherea retrieval result obtained by executing a retrieval request on avirtual database is present, “retrieval history” such as date and timeof retrieval, a person executing retrieval, the condition of retrieval,the condition of report output and data of the “retrieval result” aremanaged in the presentation structure.

In addition, the definition information of “retrieval request” includesdefinition information for managing the relevance between retrievalrequests. Specifically, the definition information of “retrievalrequest” defines that a plurality of retrieval requests that aredifferent in databases from which data are to be retrieved or differentin conditions for extracting data from databases have relevance witheach other. Thus, the definition information of “retrieval request” caninclude setting of “retrieval link” associating reports on differentretrieval results with each other. In the “retrieval link,” associationof retrieval requests for different retrieval results is made byassigning common “virtual item” to “extraction condition” or “displayitem” of different retrieval results.

The presentation structure can include “dashboard”. A dashboard is afunction for displaying one or more reports from various viewpointsneeded by a user all together, and includes retrieval requests of therespective reports and definition of an output method, arrangement, andthe like of the reports of retrieval results according to the retrievalrequests. When extraction conditions in a plurality of reports in adashboard are for a common “virtual item,” the extraction conditions canbe designated all together as “dashboard extraction conditions”. As aresult, a plurality of reports referring to different retrieval resultsin a dashboard can be subjected to data analysis manipulation alltogether.

The presentation structure further includes “library”. A library retainsa template or a dashboard of report retrieval requests prepared by auser. User authority to refer to and edit a library can be limited, sothat a retrieval template or a dashboard of reports can be shared byauthorized users.

Configuration of Business Intelligence Unit

FIG. 6 illustrates a functional block diagram of the businessintelligence unit 30 in the present embodiment. As illustrated in FIG.6, the business intelligence unit 30 includes a retrieval requestissuing unit 31, a report output unit 32, a library management unit 33,a retrieval history management unit 34, a retrieval link unit 35, adashboard display unit 36, and a dashboard linking unit 37, for example.

A plurality of use patterns of the operation of the businessintelligence unit 30 can be assumed depending on the role and thepurpose of a user. For example, in free retrieval for power users oradministrative staffs, the functions of the retrieval request issuingunit 31 are used to freely set output items, output formats, conditionitems, and the like to issue a retrieval request and freely prepare areport on desired data. In addition, in fixed retrieval for generalusers and business managers, a retrieval template in which output items,output formats, condition items, and the like are fixedly set is calledfrom the library management unit 33 or the like, only values ofconditions are changed to issue a retrieval request and prepare astandardized report. Furthermore, for referring to a report, a retrievalresult previously retrieved by the user or other users is called from alist or the like by the retrieval history management unit 34 forviewing. In this case, the function of the retrieval request issuingunit 31 need not be used directly.

Retrieval Request Issuing Unit

An image of a screen when the retrieval request issuing unit 31functions is illustrated in FIG. 7. The retrieval request issuing unit31 can assist a user terminal 2 to input on the basis of thepresentation structure definition information registered in the datadictionary 10, to issue a retrieval request compliant with retrievalrequirements input by the user terminal 2. The retrieval request issuingunit 31 has a “retrieval object selecting function,” an “extractioncondition setting function,” a “display item setting function,” and a“retrieval request issuing function,” for example.

The retrieval object selecting function can select a virtual databaseand a virtual table, and select an virtual item from a list of displayedselectable virtual items, to add the selected virtual item to extractioncondition items or display items. In the example illustrated in FIG. 7,a state in which a virtual item “product” is selected from a virtualtable “shipment results” included in a virtual database “salesperformance” is selected and added to the extraction condition items anddisplay items is shown.

When the extraction condition setting function selects an extractioncondition item, various condition setting dialogs such as a numerictype, a character type, a date type, a menu selection type, and the likeassigned to respective virtual items are displayed. Thus, the user canreadily set an extraction condition according to an instruction on thescreen.

The display item setting function can designate a display item to bedisplayed on a report of a retrieval result, and set designation ofrow/column in cross tabulation, priority order of the display item insorting, arrangement order in sorting, presence/absence of a subtotal,and the like for the display item.

The retrieval request issuing function sets a subject name and the likeof a report, and instructs execution of retrieval when all the settingsare completed.

In this manner, a retrieval request is issued by the retrieval requestissuing unit 31. The retrieval request issue by the retrieval requestissuing unit 31 is sent to the virtual database unit 20 and transferredto the retrieval history management unit 34 as illustrated in FIG. 6.

Report Output Unit

The report output unit 32 can display a retrieval result acquired fromthe virtual database unit 20 in basically one table, graph or the likeas a report on a user terminal, and output the retrieval result to theoutside in a format such as spreadsheet software, a CSV file, or an HTMLfile.

The report output unit 32 also has a function of not only displaying aretrieval result directly but also rearranging a retrieval result toprepare a multi-dimensional and multi-level cube, and grouping andtotaling a retrieval result by a specific item, a function ofdesignating items on rows and columns for cross tabulation, a functionof rearranging retrieved data by a specific item, a function of adding avalue calculated from retrieved data, and the like.

The display item of a retrieval request allows data to be identified andclassified, and is classified as an index item (dimension) that is alabel of a row or a column or as a value item (measure) capable ofdefining an attribute to be analyzed and aggregating values. Normally, areport is output by displaying a value of each index item specified in aretrieval request, and displaying an aggregation value obtained byaggregation of value items by the index item.

Furthermore, an aggregation level can be set to an index item of aretrieval request. If a plurality of index items are at the sameaggregation level, aggregation operation such as grouping and totalingis not performed on each individual index item but on a combination ofindex items with the same aggregation level all together.

In a case where two or more aggregation levels are set, when a certainaggregation level is specified by a user terminal (2), a report isoutput by displaying values in only index items at the aggregation levelor higher, and displaying an aggregation value obtained by aggregationof only index items at the aggregation level or higher in the valueitems. When the user terminal (2) has selected specific data in thereport at the aggregation level, detailed records of one level lowerthan the aggregation level are displayed on the user terminal (2). Inthis manner, when one record in an aggregate is selected, an operationof drill-down that is to expand and display detailed breakdown data ofthe record, or roll-up that is an operation opposite thereto can bereadily made by setting the aggregation level.

In addition, slicing can be made by changing designation of anextraction condition contained in a retrieval request, and dicing can bemade by changing designation of a display item contained in a retrievalrequest.

When data analysis operation is performed on a report via a userterminal 2, the report output unit 32 prepares a table, a graph or thelike subjected to the data analysis operation, and provides the preparedreport again to the user terminal 2.

As illustrated in FIG. 6, the report prepared by the report output unit32 is transferred to the retrieval link unit 35 and the dashboarddisplay unit 36.

Library Management Unit

The library management unit 33 retains retrieval requests prepared onthe basis of retrieval requirements from users, and allows the retrievalrequests to be shared by permitted users depending on the authorities ofthe users, so that the retrieval requests can be reused as retrievaltemplates for fixed retrieval. In addition, the library management unit33 retains retrieval results associated with the retrieval requirementsof previous retrievals performed by users, and allows a user and theother users to refer to the retrieval results as reports. This serves toassist sharing of information and analytical know-how among the users.

FIG. 8 illustrates an image of a screen when the library management unit33 functions.

A library of retrieval requests is prepared in units of a virtualdatabase in the, present embodiment, or in units of a specific group ofusers, and displays a list of registered retrieval requests. A retrievalrequest registered in a library can be referred not only by the user whoregistered the retrieval request but also by users authorized to referto the retrieval requests.

The library management unit 33 has a function of periodically executingscheduled retrievals. As a result of executing scheduled retrievals onthe basis of designated retrieval requirements to periodically prepareretrieval results, such reports that general users use routinely can beprepared in advance without performing retrieval every time.

As illustrated in FIG. 6, a retrieval request prepared by a user istransferred to the retrieval request issuing unit 31 and the dashboarddisplay unit 36 via the library management unit 33.

Retrieval History Management Unit

The retrieval history management unit 34 saves a retrieval resultassociated with a retrieval request for a certain period or a certainnumber of history record times on the basis of designation by the userterminal 2. Thus, as illustrated in FIG. 6, a retrieval request issuedby the retrieval request issuing unit 31 and a retrieval result acquiredfrom the virtual database 20 in response to the retrieval request areinput to the retrieval history management unit 34.

When one of displayed retrieval requests is selected by a mouse or thelike from a retrieval request library, recent retrieval date and timeand the like are displayed as a menu of retrieval history if theretrieval request is designated as a retrieval request whose retrievalhistory is to be held. When a retrieval is selected from the menu, thereport of the retrieval result is displayed on the screen. Forperforming a new retrieval, “new retrieval” is selected from theretrieval history menu.

Retrieval history can be specified to be retained for a certain periodin units of years, months, weeks, days, or the like or retrieval resultswhose history counts have reached a certain number can be specified tobe retained, and can be registered in the retrieval history managementunit 34.

Use of these functions allows users having a variety of roles and skillsto readily acquire standardized reports that are stable in qualitywithout performing retrieval every time, and allows users to shareinformation easily.

Dashboard Display Unit

The dashboard display unit 36 can arrange a plurality of tables andgraphs within one screen to display information from various viewpointsrequired by a user together in one report on a display unit (display) ofthe user terminal 2. Individual tables and graphs within a dashboard aredisplayed by means of a retrieval request instruction unit and a reportdisplay unit, and thus can work basically independently. Dashboards areregistered in a library similarly to retrieval requests, and can bereused as templates and used for reference to previous retrievalresults.

Function for Handling Data Including Inconsistency

The present invention includes a function capable of handling dataincluding inconsistency in addition to typical functions of businessintelligence. The present invention thus includes the retrieval linkunit 35 and a function for batch manipulation of a plurality of reportsas functions for manipulating a plurality of reports over a plurality ofretrieval results prepared from a plurality of retrieval requests inassociation of one another.

In addition, the present invention includes a function of defining a setof a plurality of related virtual items such as a master table as aclass virtual item that can be used in common for a plurality ofretrieval requests, so that virtual items can be easily associated andprocessed as common virtual items among different retrieval requests.

Retrieval Link Unit

The retrieval link unit 35 can also associate reports for differentretrieval results with one another. The retrieval link unit 35 allowsmovement to another associated report while inheriting extractionconditions and selections of the current report to the associatedreport. FIG. 9 illustrates an image of screen operation of the retrievallink unit 35.

First, in the retrieval link unit 35, when one piece of data (record) ina table or a graph displayed on a user terminal is selected and anoperation of clicking a mouse button, pressing a button, or the like isperformed, a menu listing reports that can be linked is displayed. Forexample, in an example of “retrieval link from table” illustrated inFIG. 9, quantity: 120 of a product P of B Industry is selected from data(records) contained in a table of a report. As a result a new window hasappeared, in which a menu of other reports such as “monthly change insales,” “details by persons in charge,” and “sales profit ratio,” whichare liked from the selected data, is displayed.

When one report is then selected from the menu, the condition items andthe condition values of the extraction conditions contained in theretrieval request of the currently displayed report, and the displayitems and the display values corresponding to the records selected inthe retrieval result are inherited. Specifically, if an item that is thesame as an inherited item is present in the extraction conditions of theretrieval request of the link destination, the condition values of theitem are replaced with inherited condition values, the retrieval requestof the link destination is then executed to acquire a retrieval result,and the screen is switched.

Reports displayed as a menu of a list of retrieval links are set byassociation of certain retrievals registered in the library with theretrieval request of the link source, and information on the reports onthe menu is also saved when the retrieval request of the link source issaved in the library.

The association (links) of a plurality of reports as described above isbased on the retrieval request definition information in the datadictionary 10. Specifically, in the data dictionary 10, the definitioninformation of retrieval request defines that a plurality of retrievalrequests that are different in databases from which data are to beretrieved or different in conditions for extracting data from databaseshave relevance with each other. Thus, the retrieval link unit 35 firstrefers to the retrieval request definition information in the datadictionary 10 to check whether a retrieval request is associated withanother retrieval request in the definition information. As a result,the retrieval link unit 35 can recognize the relevance between a reportprepared on the basis of a retrieval request and a report prepared onthe basis of another retrieval request. When data of a report isspecified, the retrieval link unit 35 then refers to the definitioninformation on the relevance contained in the retrieval request in thedata dictionary 10, and displays other reports having data associatedwith the specified data on a terminal used by the user. In this manner,the reports are linked.

Next, FIG. 10 illustrates a flowchart of a process for inheritance ofextraction conditions and selections, which allows association ofreports for different retrieval results with each other in the retrievallink unit 35.

First, the retrieval link unit 35 acquires one extraction condition froma retrieval request of a report that is a link source (S1).Subsequently, the retrieval link unit 35 refers to the data dictionary10, and acquire one extraction condition from a retrieval request of areport that is a link destination (S2). The retrieval link unit 35 thenrefers to the data dictionary 10 to determine whether a virtual item ofthe extraction condition of the link source is associated with thevirtual item of the extraction condition of the link destination asbeing the “same” (S3). If the virtual item of the extraction conditionof the link source is associated with the virtual item of the extractioncondition of the link destination as being the “same” in the datadictionary 1, the retrieval link unit 35 replaces condition values ofthe extraction condition of the link destination with condition valuesof the extraction condition of the link source (S4). In contrast, if thevirtual item of the extraction condition of the link source is not thesame as the virtual item of the extraction condition of the linkdestination, nothing is performed.

Subsequently, the retrieval link unit 35 similarly checks an extractioncondition of a next link destination (S5). Here, if it is determinedthat extraction conditions of all link destinations have been checked,the process proceeds to checking of an extraction condition of a nextlink source (S6), or if it is determined that an unprocessed extractioncondition is present in a retrieval request of a link destination, theprocess returns to step S2. Subsequently, in step S6, the extractioncondition of the next link source is similarly checked (S6). Here, if itis determined that extraction conditions of all link sources have beenchecked, the process proceeds to the next step S7, or if it isdetermined that an unprocessed extraction condition is present in aretrieval request of a link source, the process returns to step S1.

Subsequently, the retrieval link unit 35 takes out a record selected bya mouse or the like on the screen from a retrieval result of a reportthat is a link source, and acquire one pair of a display item of theselected record and display values (S7). Subsequently, the retrievallink unit 35 acquires one extraction condition from a retrieval requestof a report that is a link destination (S8). The retrieval link unit 35then refers to the data dictionary 10 to determine whether a displayitem of the selected record of the link source is associated with avirtual item of an extraction condition of a link destination as beingthe “same” (S9). Here, if the display item of the selected record of thelink source is associated with the virtual item of the extractioncondition of the link destination as being the “same” in the datadictionary 10, the retrieval link unit 35 replaces condition values ofthe extraction condition of the link destination with the display valuesof the display item of the selected record of the link source (S10). Incontrast, if the display item of the selected record of the link sourceis not the same as the virtual item of the extraction condition of thelink destination, nothing is performed.

Hereinafter, the retrieval link unit 35 similarly checks an extractioncondition of a next link destination (S11). Here, if it is determinedthat extraction conditions of all the link destinations have beenchecked, the process proceeds to checking of a selected record of a nextlink source (S12), or if it is determined that an unprocessed extractioncondition is present in a retrieval request of the link source, theprocess returns to step S8. Subsequently, in step S12, a display item ofthe selected record of the next link source is similarly checked (S12).Here, if it is determined that display items of the selected records ofall the link sources have been checked, the inheritance process isterminated, or if it is determined that an unprocessed display item ispresent in a selected record of a link source, the process returns tostep S7.

Finally, the retrieval link unit 35 issues a retrieval request forretrieving a link destination report in which the extraction conditionsare replaced to the virtual database unit 20 to acquire a retrievalresult of the link destination with the inherited extraction conditionsand selections.

Note that the determination on whether or not an item is associated asbeing “the same” is made on the basis of whether or not the definitionsof virtual items (that is, the names of the items) are the same in thepresent embodiment when the retrieval request of the link source reportand the retrieval request of the link destination report designate thesame virtual database from which data are to be retrieved. As a result,inheritance of extraction conditions and selections between differentreports is automatically carried out without individually definingassociation of items between respective retrieval requests, betweenrespective retrieval results, or between respective reports.

In addition, even in a case where the link source retrieval request andthe link destination retrieval request designate different virtualdatabases from which data are to be retrieved, the determination on theassociation can be made by referring to definition information of “thesame virtual items in different virtual tables” added to the definitionof the virtual items.

Dashboard Linking Unit

The dashboard linking unit 37 is capable of performing data analysismanipulations on a plurality of reports prepared from differentretrieval results all together even in a dashboard in which a pluralityof reports are arranged on one screen.

FIG. 11 illustrates an image of a screen for setting extractioncondition linking between a plurality of reports in a dashboard.

For linking extraction conditions between a plurality of reportsincluded in a dashboard, an “add condition” button is first selected toopen a screen of “add dashboard extraction condition” (lower part ofFIG. 11). Then, extraction conditions contained in the retrieval requestof a report to which the extraction condition is to be linked isdisplayed on the screen of “add dashboard extraction condition”. Anextraction condition is then selected from the extraction conditionsdisplayed on the screen so that the selected extraction condition isadded to the dashboard extraction conditions. The dashboard extractionconditions to which the extraction condition is added is displayed on“list of dashboard extraction conditions” (left part of FIG. 11).

For example, in the example illustrated in FIG. 11, such an extractioncondition as “product number” contained in the retrieval request in sucha report as “list of sales by product” is to be linked to an extractioncondition in another report. Thus, in the example of FIG. 11, anextraction condition item “product number” contained in the retrievalrequest of the report “list of sales by product” is first added to thedashboard extraction conditions.

Subsequently, when one of the dashboard extraction conditions isselected from the list on the dashboard, a list of reports containingthe same extraction condition item as that of the selected extractioncondition is displayed on a part called the “report linked with presentextraction condition” (upper-right part of FIG. 11). Thus, whether ornot to be linked with the extraction condition of another report isspecified for each of the reports displayed under the “report linkedwith present extraction condition”. As a result, the extractionconditions of a plurality of reports that can be linked can be set atthe same time by one setting of extraction condition.

For example, in the example illustrated in FIG. 11, when such anextraction condition item as “product number” is selected from the liston the dashboard, reports such as “list of sales by product,” “monthlychange in sales,” “performance by person in charge,” and “sales rankingby customer” are displayed on the part of “report linked with presentextraction condition” (upper-right part of FIG. 11). This means that thereports displayed here have the extraction conditions that can be linkedwith the extraction condition “product number”. Thus, the reports whoseextraction conditions are to be linked with the extraction condition“product number” can be freely selected from the displayed reports. Notethat, in the example illustrated in FIG. 11, the extraction conditionsof only the “list of sales by product” and the “monthly change in sales”are set to be linked.

Furthermore, for example, a plurality of extraction conditions havingthe same meaning but having different names can be linked with eachother. For example, when a “link with another extraction condition”button illustrated in FIG. 11 is selected, the extraction conditionitems other than the extraction condition (product number) selected onthe list on the dashboard are displayed in a form of a selectable list.Extraction condition items forced to be linked with the extractioncondition (product number) selected on the list on the dashboard arethen selected from the extraction condition items displayed here. Inthis manner, the extraction condition (product number) selected on thelist on the dashboard and the other extraction condition items can belinked with one another. Note that the dashboard extraction conditionsset to be linked with the extraction condition in this manner are nolonger displayed on the list of extraction retrieval conditions duringuse, and the values of the dashboard extraction conditions of the linksource are used as the values of the dashboard extraction conditions ofthe link destination in execution of retrieval.

In the example illustrated in FIG. 11, a dashboard extraction conditionitem “product identification code” is already defined on the dashboard.However, since this extraction condition item “product identificationcode” has the same meaning as the extraction condition item “productnumber” but is different in name therefrom, the extraction conditionitems are likely to be treated as different extraction condition itemsin computer processing. Thus, the “product identification code” and the“product number” are linked with each other at the “link with anotherextraction condition” part on the manipulation screen, which allowslinking between different reports to be performed more correctly on thebasis of an input operation from a user terminal.

Information on the extraction condition items whose link with each otherare specified in this manner is registered in the presentation structureof the data dictionary 10. In this sense, the content of the datadictionary 10 (In particular, the link between extraction conditionitems) is updated on the basis of an input operation from a userterminal. Furthermore, the accuracy of information in the datadictionary 10 can be enhanced by actual use of the system according tothe present invention.

Furthermore, use of the function of linking the extraction conditionsbetween a plurality of reports enables to link not only with the settingof extraction conditions but also with the drill-down of the reports onthe dashboard. In an initial state, dashboard extraction condition itemsare prepared with condition values being null. When instruction toperform drill-down on any of reports on the dashboard, if an item to bedrilled down is a dashboard extraction condition item, the values ofextraction conditions of a plurality of reports whose extractionconditions are to be linked are replaced with the values of instructionby drill-down, so that a plurality of reports on the dashboard can bedrilled down in conjunction with one another.

Class Virtual Item

Master tables such as “customer,” “product,” and “employee” are mainlyused to manage subject attributes, and have such characteristics thatthe structures thereof are defined independent of other data and that aplurality of associated items are typically manipulated together.

In the present invention, a function of a class virtual item defining aset of such a plurality of associated virtual items as one virtual itemindependent of virtual tables is provided.

For example, in a master table holding attributes such as codes andnames, when a class virtual item is selected as a display item as aresult of retrieval object selection by the retrieval request issuingunit 31, a plurality of virtual items (for example, codes, names, etc.)belonging to the class virtual item can be automatically added to thedisplay items in the retrieval request. In addition, in settingextraction conditions by the retrieval request issuing unit 31, a menuincluding code, names, and the like, which is easy to recognize, isautomatically displayed to the user, which enables such a navigationwhere only the code is added to the retrieval conditions when the userhas selected a condition from the menu.

In addition, a hierarchical class virtual item can be defined for a setof a plurality of virtual items that are hierarchically associated witheach other. With a hierarchical class virtual item, in setting of anextraction condition by a retrieval request instruction unit, when onevalue is selected from a menu of the values of items at an upper level,the values of items at a lower level associated with the selected valueare displayed as a menu, and the user can specify a value to be anextraction condition for retrieval from the values displayed in a menuat any level, for example.

FIG. 12 illustrates an image of manipulation of a screen for setting anextraction condition using a class virtual item and hierarchical classvirtual item.

As a result of defining a plurality of items belonging to a master tableall together as a class virtual item that can be used in common in aplurality of virtual table, instead of individually defining the itemsof the master table as being subordinate to individual virtual tables,the values of extraction conditions and selection conditions are readilyinherited as the same or associated virtual items even between retrievalresults prepared from retrieval request to different virtual tables.Furthermore, even in different virtual tables, setting of the values ofextraction conditions, selecting of display items, and the like duringretrieval can also be performed through common guidance and manipulationprocedures, which improves user friendliness.

Configuration of Virtual Database Unit

FIG. 13 illustrates a functional block diagram of the virtual databaseunit 20 in the present embodiment. As illustrated in FIG. 13, thevirtual database 20 includes a retrieval request translation unit 21,retrieval instruction execution unit 22, and data integration processingunit 23.

The virtual database unit 20 is capable of performing a process ofreceiving a retrieval request prepared by the business intelligence unit30, and returning data retrieved in the virtual database unit 20 as aretrieval result to the business intelligence unit 30. Alternatively,the virtual database unit 20 can be configured to receive a retrievalrequest prepared by entities other than the business intelligence unit30, and can be configured to return a retrieval result to an externaloutput destination other than the business intelligence unit 30.

The description format of a retrieval request received by the virtualdatabase unit 20 includes a table to be retrieved, a list of items to beretrieved, designation of extraction conditions, designation ofgrouping, designation of a sorting order, an output destination of aretrieval result, designation of a format for displaying a retrievalresult, and the like. A syntax obtained by extending a standard SQLsyntax may be used, or alternatively, a specialized syntax may be used.

Retrieval Request Translation Unit

A retrieval request input to the virtual database unit 20 is firstpassed to the retrieval request translation unit 21. The retrievalrequest translation unit 21 is constituted by a retrieval requestanalysis function and a retrieval instruction generation function.

Retrieval Request Analysis Function

The retrieval request analysis function converts all the items appearingin the item list, the extraction conditions, the grouping designation,the sorting order designation, and the like of the input retrievalrequest into virtual items according to the virtual data structuredefinition information in the data dictionary 10. The retrieval requestanalysis function further eliminates overlapping virtual items, andprepare a unique set of virtual items to be included as subjects ofretrieval.

Subsequently, the retrieval request translation unit 21 checkscalculation tables for the extracted virtual item set on the basis ofthe calculation table application definition to detect one or morecompliant calculation tables (hereinafter referred to as compliantcalculation tables).

Normally, the calculation table application definition is expressed as atree structure having one or more calculation tables under onecalculation table at an upper level. Terminal nodes of the calculationtable application definition are constituted by external calculationtables that retrieve data from databases, and the other upper-level nodeis constituted by an internal calculation table.

A case where an upper-level internal calculation table is defined on alower-level internal calculation table refers to that an output of thedata integration processing unit 23 corresponding to the lower-levelinternal calculation table is an input to the data integrationprocessing unit 23 corresponding to the upper-level internal calculationtable, so that data integration processing unit 23 is implemented inmultiple stages.

Since an optimum compliant calculation table is detected following thecalculation table application definition for each of the virtual items,different compliant calculation tables may be detected for differentvirtual items. In this case, respective data acquired by differentretrieval instruction execution units or different data integrationprocessing units are finally integrated and provided as one retrievalresult at a stage where retrieval instructions generated from thedifferent compliant calculation tables are executed.

The relation between an upper calculation table and a lower calculationtable in the calculation table application definition can be selectedfrom three relations which are merge relation, selection relation andreference relation in the present embodiment, which determines the dataintegration scheme in the data integration processing function.

The procedure of following the calculation table application definitionto detect an optimum compliant calculation table is specifically asfollows. Note that, in the description below, virtual items used forgrouping designation or in an extraction condition will be referred toas key items, and the other virtual items will be written as attributeitems.

(1) In a case where a list of calculation items in a calculation tableincludes all the key items included in a virtual item set and one ormore attribute items included in the virtual item set, the calculationtable is determined to be a compliant calculation table. Note that, in acase where a compliance condition such as determination based oncondition values of extraction conditions is specified for individualcalculation tables, a calculation table is determined to be a compliantcalculation table only when retrieval requests satisfies the compliancecondition.

(2) In a case where a plurality of calculation tables are defined in themerge relation at a lower level, attribute items compliant with aprevious calculation table are left in a virtual item set for checkingsubsequent calculation tables.

(3) In a case where a plurality of calculation tables are defined in theselection relation at a lower level, attribute items compliant with aprevious calculation table are excluded from a virtual item set forchecking subsequent calculation tables.

(4) In a case where a calculation table is defined in the referencerelation at a lower level, items in the lower-level calculation tableare deemed to be capable of being calculated by an upper-levelcalculation table, and when a virtual item set includes an item of thelower-level calculation table, the lower-level calculation table as wellas the upper-level calculation table are determined to be compliantcalculation tables.

(5) The above procedures are checked sequentially from anuppermost-level calculation table to a calculation table at a nextlevel, and then to a calculation table at a level after the next if thecalculation table is compliant, and this is repeated. This is terminatedwhen no attribute item is present in the virtual item set for checkingsubsequent calculation tables or when all the calculation table havebeen checked.

Retrieval Instruction Generation Function

One or more compliant calculation tables associated with a retrievalrequest obtained by the retrieval request translation unit 21 are passedto the retrieval instruction generation function. The retrievalinstruction generation function depends on the compliant calculationtables, and if the compliant calculation tables are external referencetables, the retrieval instruction generation function generates aretrieval instruction that can be executed by a database 3 from whichdata are to be retrieved, and passes the retrieval instruction to theretrieval instruction execution unit 22. If the compliant calculationtables are internal reference tables, the retrieval instructiongeneration function generates one or more retrieval instructions thatcan be executed by the data integration processing unit 23, and passesthe retrieval instructions to the data integration processing unit 23.

First, the retrieval instruction generation function defines calculationitems compliant with the key items and attribute items of the virtualitem set in each of the compliant calculation tables as a calculationitem set in units of retrieval.

Subsequently, the retrieval instruction generation function develops aretrieval item list, grouping designation, sorting designation, andextraction conditions in each unit of desired retrieval according to acalculation definition formula for calculation items describing virtualitem names by using a physical table and physical items.

In addition, if a plurality of physical tables are used in thecalculation definition formula in the calculation table, a joincondition between the physical tables is obtained from the physicaltable join definition, and added to a table reference formula.

Equations obtained by developing the formulae are substituted intoinstruction elements such as a retrieval item list, a groupingdesignation formula list, sorting designation formula list, a tablereference formula, and an extraction condition formula, whosecalculation syntaxes for databases from which data are to be retrievedare being defined, so that one of executable retrieval instructions isgenerated.

The above processes are repeated the number of times corresponding tothe number of compliant calculation tables, so that a series of set ofnormalized retrieval instructions can be obtained.

Note that, while the retrieval instruction generation function generatesone retrieval instruction from one compliant calculation table in thepresent embodiment, a plurality of retrieval instructions can begenerated from one compliant calculation table or one retrievalinstruction can be generated from a plurality of compliant calculationtables.

Retrieval Instruction Execution Unit

The retrieval instruction execution unit 22 executes one or moreretrieval instructions prepared by the retrieval instruction generationfunction of the retrieval request translation unit 21 on a database 1,acquires retrieved data in response to each of the retrievalinstructions and stores the retrieved data in a temporary storage area,and sends the retrieved data to the data integration processing functionof the data integration processing unit 23.

In a case where the database 1 supports the SQL language as a retrievalinterface, at least one of a retrieval instruction execution unit forretrieval using the SQL from a physical table of the database 1, aretrieval instruction execution unit for retrieval using a storedprocedure stored in the database 1, and a retrieval instructionexecution unit that retrieves a retrieval result again from a retrievalresult of retrieval defined directly by the SQL language of the database1 may be provided.

In a case where the database 1 does not support the SQL language as aretrieval interface, a retrieval instruction execution unitcorresponding to a retrieval interface of the database 1 may beprovided, or if the database 1 is a data file on a file system, aretrieval instruction execution unit corresponding to the data file maybe provided.

The temporary storage area for the retrieved data may be a temporarytable on the database 1, a temporary table on a specific workingdatabase, a temporary file on a magnetic storage medium, or a storagearea in a memory, for example.

Data Integration Processing Unit

The data integration processing unit 23 executes data integration anddata processing on the basis of a retrieval instruction corresponding toan internal calculation table generated by the retrieval requesttranslation unit 21.

Data resulting from the data integration and data processing are sent asa retrieval result in response to the retrieval request to the businessintelligence unit 30 or an output destination other than the businessintelligence unit 30.

The result data can be output to a table in the database, which is anoutput destination other than the business intelligence unit 30, forexample. Alternatively, the result data can be output to a data filestored in a file system, a data stream transmitted via a network, or thelike. In this case, the format in which the result data are output canbe a comma separated value (CSV) format, an HTML format, an XML format,or a spreadsheet format, for example.

In a simplest configuration example, the data integration processingunit 23 receives as input one or more of a plurality of intermediateretrieved data prepared by division during the processing process in theretrieval instruction execution unit 22, performs data integration anddata processing, and outputs result data in a form of one table.

In a more complicated configuration example, result data output by adata integration processing unit 23 can be passed on as an input toanother data integration processing unit 23.

In a case where a plurality of retrieval instructions corresponding toan internal calculation table are issued, the processing of the dataintegration processing unit 23 is sequentially repeated by passingresult data output by a previous data integration processing unit 23 asan input to a subsequent data integration processing unit 23 accordingto an order as instructed in the retrieval instructions. In this manner,the processing in the data integration processing unit 23 can beexecuted in multiple stages.

The functions of the data integration processing unit 23 includes a dataintegration processing function, and a data processing function forprocessing integrated data.

Data Integration Processing Function

The data integration processing function performs data integration toprepare one piece of table data on the basis of one or more intermediatedata.

The data integration processing function has data integration schemesincluding a merge scheme, a selection scheme, and a reference scheme,and uses an optimum scheme or a combination of the schemes selectedtherefrom.

How the data integration schemes are used for a virtual table specifiedin a retrieval request is described in the calculation table applicationdefinition for a virtual table in the data dictionary 10.

FIG. 14 illustrates a conceptual diagram of processing in a plurality ofdata integration schemes.

In a merge scheme (UNION), a plurality of retrieval instructions aregenerated from a plurality of calculation tables applicable to aretrieval request, the retrieval instructions are executed in parallel,and all of a plurality of retrieved data extracted as a result ofexecution are first merged into data of one table. The retrieved data ofthe calculation tables all include common key items but only some of theretrieved data include attribute items. Thus, the table data are groupedby all of the included key items and values of the attribute items areaggregated for each group, so that redundant portions (non-normality)where all the key items overlap are removed. The method for aggregatingthe attribute items may be, unless otherwise specified, totalingnumerical data while performing maximum calculation of selecting a validvalue from null and valid values on data other than numerical data. Theaggregation method, however, can be specified individually for each datadictionary.

In the example shown in the merge scheme in FIG. 14, it is requestedthat a retrieval result has “customer” and “product” as key items, andboth of retrieved data 1 and retrieved data 2 meets this requirement byboth including records having values of “customer 1” and “product 1”.Next, since the value of unit price, which is an attribute item, is onlypresent in the retrieved data 1, aggregation is performed to obtain“unit price 1” as a value of the retrieval result. In addition, sincethe values of quantity are present in both of the retrieved data 1 andthe retrieved data 2, aggregation is performed by totaling numericaldata to obtain “quantity 1+quantity 2” as a value of the retrievalresult.

The merge scheme is high in processing performance since retrieved datacan be acquired from respective databases by issuing one retrievalinstruction and a plurality of retrieval instructions can be executed inparallel. In the merge scheme, however, all the key items necessary foraggregation are required to be included in the acquired retrieved data.

In a selection scheme (CHOICE), a plurality of calculation tablesapplicable to a retrieval request are checked according to priority, acalculation table of the highest priority, which includes an attributeitem, is selected, provided that the calculation table includes all therequested key items, and a retrieval instruction is generated andexecuted to acquire retrieved data. In a case where a plurality ofretrieval instructions are generated for a plurality of attribute items,a plurality of retrieved data extracted by executing the respectiveretrieval instructions are grouped and aggregated similarly to the mergescheme, so that redundant portions are removed.

In the example shown in the selection scheme in FIG. 14, it is requestedthat a retrieval result has “customer” and “product” as key items. Sinceretrieved data 1 only has “customer” as a key item, retrieved data 1 isnot to be retrieved. Next, since retrieved data 2 includes “customer”and “product” as key items, attribute items “unit price” and “quantity”are also acquired therefrom. Determination is terminated here since allthe attribute items are acquired as a result. If, however, some of theattribute items cannot be acquired, similar determination is furthercontinued.

The selection scheme is capable of improving the efficiency of retrievalof detailed data stored in a database by automatically selecting acalculation table that meets a given retrieval request and thatretrieves data at the highest aggregation level in a case whereaggregated data at one or more levels are also prepared and stored inthe database.

In a reference scheme (LOOKUP), one calculation table is associated withone or more calculation tables to be referred to. Retrieval is performedon each of records of retrieved data acquired by generating andexecuting a retrieval instruction for the original one calculationtable, on the basis of reference conditions defined by the calculationtable application definition for each of the calculation tables to bereferred to so as to obtain reference data, and values of items in thereference data corresponding to items missing in the original retrieveddata are copied, so that result data are calculated using a plurality ofretrieved data.

In the example shown in the reference scheme in FIG. 14, “customer,”“product,” and “quantity” are acquired in the first retrieved data 1,but the item of “unit price” is missing. If a reference condition forretrieved data 2 is that “product in the retrieved data 1 has the samevalue as product in retrieved data 2 has,” the value “product 1” ofproduct obtained in the retrieved data 1 is used as a condition forreferring to the retrieved data 2 and the obtained value “unit price 1”of unit price is copied to the value of unit price in the retrievalresult.

The reference scheme has advantages in that, in a case where some ofaggregation keys necessary for retrieved data acquired as a result ofexecuting one retrieval instruction are not included, another retrievalinstruction can be executed to acquire associated retrieved data andsupplement missing keys before performing aggregation.

Reference Processing Schemes

In the reference scheme, retrieval is performed according to a definedreference condition to acquire reference data. Since, however, areference condition includes an item of a reference source as a variableof a condition formula, retrieval cannot be executed directly on areferenced database if the database of the reference source is differentfrom the referenced database. Thus, the reference processing schemebetween different databases needs to be a system different from that ofjoining processing (JOIN) in a normal database.

In the present embodiment, three processing schemes are included as thereference processing schemes: a successive reference scheme, a batchjoin scheme, and a sequential merge scheme. FIGS. 15A and 15B illustrateconceptual diagrams of processing in these reference processing schemes.

In the successive reference scheme, records are acquired one by one fromretrieved data acquired by generating and executing one retrievalinstruction. For performing retrieval by using the records as referencesources, items of the reference source included as variables incondition formulae of the reference condition are replaced by the itemvalues of the records. The reference condition, thus obtained, is addedto the retrieval instruction, retrieved data of the referenced databaseare acquired, and result data are calculated by joining the records ofthe both. The above described procedures are successively repeated forall of the acquired retrieved data.

Since the number of retrieval instructions required for reference is thenumber of retrieved data of the reference source in principle, theprocessing time tends to be long in particular when a large amount ofdata are to be referred to. It is, however, possible to combine aplurality of records of the retrieved data of the reference sourcetogether into a join condition of one retrieval instruction forreference, instead of one by one record of the retrieved data of thereference source. In this case the number of retrieval instructions tobe issued is [the number of retrieved data of the reference source÷thenumber of records per one reference].

In the batch join scheme, data that are subject of retrieval of thereference source and data that are subject of retrieval of thereferenced database are all temporarily stored in one working database,and a retrieval instruction for performing join (JOIN) processing on theworking database is issued to calculate result data all together. Asufficient working area is required in the working database, andprocessing procedures are typically complicated.

The processing efficiency of the batch join scheme depends largely onthe efficiency of transferring data to be subjected to the joinprocessing to the working database, in particular on the writingefficiency, since the join processing in the working database istypically performed at a significantly high speed. The working databasemay be any of the databases from which data are to be retrieved. Thus,if either one of the reference source and the referenced database has alarge amount of data while the other has a small amount of data, thedata in the database having the smaller amount of data can betransferred to the database having the larger amount of data, whichallows high-speed processing without transferring a large amount ofdata. In addition, data that are less often updated and have no problemin being statically held can be transferred in advance to the workingdatabase, which improves the processing efficiency of referenceretrieval.

In the sequential merge scheme, data that are subject of retrieval ofthe reference source and data that are subject of retrieval of thereferenced database are rearranged in advance in the order of conditionvalues of a reference condition, and while the data are sequentiallyread thereafter, the condition values of the reference conditions of areference source record and a referenced database record are compared,and result data of those with the same condition values are obtained.

FIG. 16 illustrates an example of a concept of processing in thesequential merge scheme. Reference source data include “ship-to code,”“product code” and “quantity”. Referenced database data 1 include“ship-to code” and “destination name”. The reference condition for thereference source data and the referenced database data 1 is “referencesource data. ship-to code =referenced database data 1. ship-to code”.Thus, the reference source data are rearranged according to the ship-tocode, and the referenced database data 1 are rearranged according to theship-to code. Thereafter, the reference source data and the referenceddatabase data 1 are sequentially read. In records having the sameship-to code, the destination names are copied from the referenceddatabase data 1 and the other items are copied from the reference sourcedata, and intermediate data are thus prepared.

Subsequently, the intermediate data and referenced database data 2 arerearranged similarly according to the product codes. Thereafter, theintermediate data and the referenced database data 2 are sequentiallyread. in records having the same product code, the product names and theunit prices are copied from the referenced database data 2 and the otheritems are copied from the intermediate data, and result data are thusprepared. If a plurality of records having the same condition values areresent in the reference source data or the referenced database data,result data are prepared for each of the records, which means that aplurality of result data will be output.

FIG. 17 illustrates a flowchart of specific processing in the sequentialmerge scheme.

First, the reference source data are rearranged according to all theitems of the reference source included in a reference condition, and thereferenced database data are rearranged according to all the items ofthe referenced database included in the reference condition. In thisprocess, the order of rearrangement is ascending order of the conditionvalues of the reference condition. (In a case of descending order, therelation of magnitudes of values in the following description should bereversed.)

Subsequently, one record is read from the reference source. A record isalso read from the referenced database. When a plurality of recordshaving the same condition value are present, all the records having thesame condition value are read as a record set.

The magnitude of a condition value of the reference condition based onthe item values of a reference source record and the magnitude of acondition value of the reference condition based on the item values of areferenced database record are compared. If the condition value of thereference source record is smaller, a next reference source record isread and the magnitudes of the condition values are compared again. Ifthe condition value of the referenced database record set is smaller, anext referenced database record set is read, and the magnitudes of thecondition values are compared again.

If the condition values are equal, that is, if the reference conditionis satisfied, one record is taken from the referenced database recordset as a referenced database record, values of items missing from thereference source record are copied from the referenced database record,and result data are output. This process is repeated for all the recordsin the referenced database record set. As a result, when one record ofthe reference source corresponds to n records of the referenceddatabase, result data are output for n records. If the processing of therecord set is completed, a next reference source record is read and themagnitudes of the condition values are compared again.

Note that, since the referenced database record set is left after arecord is output, if the condition values of m records of the referencesource correspond to the condition values of a record set including nrecords of the referenced database, result data are output for m×nrecords. This result is equivalent to that of the join processing onrecords including key duplication in the SQL.

Subsequently, this procedure is repeated until processing of all thereference source records or all the referenced database records iscompleted.

The processing time of the sequential merge scheme is very stablebecause a reference process is completed by sequentially reading allrecords once, although data to be retrieved needs to be rearranged inadvance. If, however, only some of all the records are necessary, thisis not very suitable since reading of all the records is needed.

In addition, this is suitable for processing a large amount of datasince all the processes including the rearrangement process and thereference condition comparison process can be constituted by sequentialprocesses and memory consumption is thus very small. In particular, thesequential merge scheme produces a significant effect in such a casewhere a plurality of large data need to be joined.

As described above, for the data integration scheme, an optimumintegration scheme can be selected or a combination of a plurality ofintegration schemes can be used from a plurality of schemes. Similarly,for the processing scheme when the integration scheme is the referencescheme, an optimum reference processing scheme can be selected or aplurality of reference processing schemes can be used from a pluralityof schemes. An optimum integration processing efficiency can be achievedin various situations.

Data Processing Function

The data processing function performs the following processes on onepiece of table data obtained by the data integration processingfunction, and outputs the resulting data as result data compliant withthe content of a retrieval instruction:

(1) a classification and aggregation process of grouping data by keyitems and aggregating the values of attribute items for each group;

(2) if the retrieval instruction specifies data editing, a data editingprocess such as numerical calculation, character string manipulation,date conversion, and code conversion;

(3) if a data extraction condition is specified, a data extractionprocess of specifying a specific value range condition, pattern matchingof character strings, and the like; and

(4) if the retrieval instruction specifies an outputting order, asorting process.

In addition, the data processing function can have a function ofperforming computation dependent on the relation and the order ofrecords that is difficult to process by a scholar operation within arecord. Examples of such a function are as follows:

(1) an accumulation process such as a total of a first record, a totalof first and second records, and a total of first, second, and thirdrecords;

(2) a shifted accumulation process such as a total of a first record, atotal of first and second records, a total of second and third records,and a total of third and fourth records;

(3) a subtraction process such as a value of a first record, asubtraction between second and first records, and a subtraction betweenthird and second records;

(4) a process based on record numbering such as a head value, an endvalue, an n-th value from the head, and an n-th value form the end;

(5) a process based on the order of records such as a previous record,and an immediately following record; and

(6) a statistical process such as distribution, correlation, estimation,and testing.

Some of such processes can be implemented by using SQL analyticalfunctions, but the processes are not suitable for processing a largeamount of data since the SQL analytical functions are processed on amemory in a normal database engine where the amount of data that can beprocessed is limited. The data processing function in the presentembodiment is on the assumption of stream processing, and thus hasadvantages in being very low in memory consumption and suitable forprocessing of a large amount of data.

Optimization of Retrieval Instruction Generation Function

In addition, the data integration processing unit 23 performs dataintegration and data processing on the basis of a plurality ofintermediate retrieved data acquired by the retrieval instructionexecution unit 22. Thus, it is important that the retrieval instructiongeneration function of the retrieval request translation unit 21generate retrieval instructions so that the number of records in theresult data from the database to be processed is a minimum number. Thisreduces communication overhead caused by transfer of result data andimproves the processing efficiency of the data integration processingunit 23. Thus, the retrieval instruction generation function operates asfollows.

Some of extraction conditions for a virtual database unit specified inretrieval requests are converted and applied into retrievalinstructions, if possible. This narrows data to be retrieved and data tobe returned as retrieval results.

Some of classification and totaling processes requested in retrievalrequests are dealt in such a manner that classification and totaling areperformed in advance according to a retrieval instruction to a databaseso that retrieval results are aggregated, if possible. This reduces thenumber of data in retrieval results output from databases.

In addition, a process of referring to a master table managing staticattributes that are not subjected to data update often such as code/nameconversion is not performed during retrieval of detailed data where thenumber of data in the database is large but performed on data afteraggregation where the number of data is small. This reduces the numberof reference processes.

Data Cache

Furthermore, the data integration processing unit can include amechanism for caching retrieved data for the purpose of increasingretrieval processing efficiency. FIG. 18 illustrates a conceptualdiagram of processing of a retrieved data cache. The retrieved datacache is implemented by preparing in advance table data resulting fromthe data integration process or intermediate retrieved data prepared bydivision during the processing process in a retrieval execution functionof a database, storing the prepared data in an external storage area forthe retrieved data cache, and referring to data in the external storagearea for the retrieved data cache instead of the database duringretrieval execution.

The timing when data are stored in advance in the external storage areafor the retrieved data cache can be freely set, such as on a certaindate and time specified by an administrator, at initial retrievalperformed by a user, or when activated by an external event such as dataupdate. In a case where a term of validity of the retrieved data cacheis set by an administrator and the validity term has expired, theretrieved data cache can be reprepared.

In addition, the range of the retrieved data cache to be preparedincludes all the items that can be selected by a user in units of avirtual table or a calculation table and all the values of theextraction conditions that can be specified by the user. As a result,the retrieved data cache is valid for all retrievals from virtual tablesor calculation tables, which increases the retrieval processingefficiency.

Effects of Using Data Integration Processing Units in Multiple Stages

The present invention has a function capable of performing theprocessing in the data integration processing unit 23 in multiplestages. The necessity of such data integration processing in multiplestages occurs in such cases where the number of specific objects is tobe obtained, where a ratio to total is to be obtained, where anoccurrence rate is to be obtained, and where only nupper-level/lower/level data are to be output, and occurs often at astage of statistical processing such as indexing of retrieval results inparticular.

In addition, in a case where a complicated statistical process isperformed on a large amount of data, there are many cases where dataintegration processing needs to be divided into steps in terms ofprocessing efficiency.

In the present invention, the calculation table application definitionof the data dictionary defines multi-stage data integration processingtogether with the virtual item to be applied. As a result, the number ofstages of data integration processing is automatically determined foreach virtual item according to a retrieval request from a user, and anappropriate number of states of data integration processing can beperformed.

An image of processing including a multi-stage data integrationprocessing unit will be described on the basis of FIG. 19.

A database stores a plurality of shipment data (physical tables: T1 andT2) divided for each dealer, and each of the shipment data containsitems corresponding to product, ship-to, and shipment quantity. T1 andT2, however, are different in the data formats such as the parts “ . . .” that are not used for retrieval and the names of registered items(“dealer name” and “dealer,” “product name” and “product,” etc.). Assumethat a final retrieval result in which the shipment quantity and thenumber of destinations are totaled for each product as shown by R isdesired to be obtained from a database built to include T1 and T2.

First, for acquiring the shipment quantity for each product, a pluralityof retrieved data obtained by extracting necessary data from T1 and T2are integrated into one table by associating items having differentnames with each other on the basis of the data dictionary, and total theintegrated data for each product. As a result, first result data (V1) inwhich the shipment quantity is counted for each product is are obtained.In this case, the number of executions of the data integrationprocessing unit is one.

In contrast, for acquiring the number of destinations and the shipmentquantity for each product, it is necessary to once aggregate dataacquired from T1 and T2 and integrated into one table for each productand each destination (V2) to remove overlapping destinations, and thencount the number of destinations for each product to obtain secondresult data (V3). Thus, two executions of the data integrationprocessing unit are required including data aggregation for each productand each destination and count of the number of destinations.

Data of the first result data (V1) and the second result data (V3) arethen put together to obtain the final result data R responding to theretrieval request.

Note that the number of stages of the data integration processingnecessary for obtaining the retrieval result is automatically determinedon the basis of the data dictionary, and the user therefore need not beconscious thereof.

As a result of achieving multi-stage data integration processing in thepresent invention, the user can readily acquire reports includingcomplicated or sophisticated statistical processes, which have beendifficult to acquire directly from databases, only by issuing retrievalrequests. This eliminates the need for manual data processing beforehandor afterward. Thus, the present invention has an advantage of beingcapable of flexibly coping with more complicated or sophisticatedretrieval requirements than those of conventional virtual databases.

Herein, an embodiment of the present invention has been described abovewith reference to the drawings to express details of the presentinvention. The present invention, however, is not limited to theabove-described embodiment but includes modifications and improvementsobvious to those skilled in the art based on the disclosure providedherein.

REFERENCE SIGNS LIST

-   1 database-   2 user terminal-   3 administrator terminal-   10 data dictionary-   20 virtual database unit-   21 retrieval request translation unit-   22 retrieval instruction execution unit-   23 data integration processing unit-   30 business intelligence unit-   31 retrieval request issuing unit-   32 report output unit-   33 dashboard unit-   34 library management unit-   40 data dictionary editing unit-   100 data retrieval apparatus

1. A data retrieval apparatus that retrieves data from two or moredatabases that return retrieved data in response to a retrievalinstruction, the data retrieval apparatus comprising: a data dictionaryincluding presentation structure definition information for assistinginput of a user terminal to issue a retrieval request compliant with aretrieval requirement, virtual data structure definition information foranalyzing the retrieval request and converting the retrieval requestinto a retrieval instruction expressed as physical informationprocessable by the database, and retrieval request definitioninformation for managing relevance between different retrieval requests;a business intelligence circuit for assisting input of the user terminalaccording to the presentation structure defined in the data dictionaryto issue a retrieval request described according to the presentationstructure, and outputting a retrieval result based on the virtual datastructure, the retrieval result being obtained by executing theretrieval request by a virtual database unit, to the user terminal; anda virtual database for analyzing the retrieval request according to thevirtual data structure defined in the data dictionary to generate aretrieval instruction, executing the generated retrieval instruction inthe database to acquire two or more retrieved data, and integrating theacquired two or more retrieved data to prepare a retrieval resultresponding to the retrieval request, wherein the data retrievalapparatus associates a plurality of retrieval results prepared inresponse to different retrieval requests with each other by theretrieval request definition information.
 2. The data retrievalapparatus according to claim 1, wherein when the virtual database hasprepared a plurality of retrieval results in response to differentretrieval requests associated by the retrieval request definitioninformation, the virtual database automatically associates the preparedretrieval results with each other, and the business intelligence circuitprepares a plurality of reports respectively from the retrieval resultsassociated by the virtual database, and automatically associates theprepared reports with each other.
 3. The data retrieval apparatusaccording to claim 1, wherein the business intelligence circuitincludes: a retrieval request issuing circuit that assists the userterminal according to the presentation structure in the data dictionaryto issue a retrieval request based on the presentation structure to thevirtual database; and a report output circuit that prepares a reportfrom the retrieval result acquired from the virtual database, and sendsthe report to the user terminal.
 4. The data retrieval apparatusaccording to claim 3, wherein the business intelligence circuit isconfigured to: display a plurality of reports prepared from a pluralityof retrieval results acquired by executing a plurality of retrievalrequests sequentially or simultaneously; and associate and manipulate aplurality of reports with each other by the retrieval request definitioninformation that manages relevance between different retrieval requestscontained in the data dictionary.
 5. The data retrieval apparatusaccording to claim 4, wherein the business intelligence circuit isconfigured to: associate a first retrieval request with a secondretrieval request as relevant retrieval; and execute the first retrievalrequest to display a first retrieval result in the user terminal, andthereafter select data contained in the first retrieval result andinstruct a link to the second retrieval request, so as to: inherit anitem and a condition value of an extraction condition contained in thefirst retrieval request and an item and a display value associated withdata selected from the first retrieval result to the second retrievalrequest; and when an associated item associated with the item inheritedfrom the first retrieval request is present in an extraction conditionof the second retrieval request, replace a condition value of theassociated item with the condition value inherited from the firstretrieval request, execute the second retrieval request, and display asecond retrieval result.
 6. The data retrieval apparatus according toclaim 4, wherein the business intelligence circuit is configured to:prepare a dashboard including a plurality of reports output from aplurality of retrieval results, the reports being arranged on onescreen; when data contained in a retrieval result of one of the reportswithin the dashboard, inherit an index item and a display valueassociated with the selected data to another report within thedashboard; and when an item associated with the index item inherited toan extraction condition of a retrieval request of the another report ispresent, replace a condition value of the extraction condition with adisplay value to which the condition value is inherited, execute aretrieval request to display a new retrieval result, so as to manipulatea plurality of reports within the dashboard in conjunction with eachother.
 7. The data retrieval apparatus according to claim 3, wherein thereport output circuit of the business intelligence circuit is configuredto: perform aggregation operation on a combination of index items withsame aggregation level all together when a retrieval request contains aplurality of classifiable index items and one or more aggregable valueitems, when two or more aggregation levels are set, in displaying aretrieval result at a certain aggregation level on the user terminal,display only values of index items at a level higher than the certainaggregation level, and display an aggregation value obtained byaggregation of only index items at a level higher than the certainaggregation level in the value items; and when the user terminal hasselected specific data in the retrieval result at the certainaggregation level, display detailed records at an aggregation levellower by one level having an index item equal to the displayed indexitem of the selected specific data on the user terminal.
 8. The dataretrieval apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the businessintelligence circuit has a library management circuit configured to savea retrieval request once prepared by the user terminal and reading theretrieval request for reuse, and the business intelligence circuit setsa user terminal configured to use the library management circuitaccording to user authority to allow the retrieval request to be shareddepending on a purpose of use.
 9. The data retrieval apparatus accordingto claim 3, wherein the business intelligence circuit includes aretrieval history management circuit configured to save a retrievalresult responding to a retrieval request for a predetermined period orfor a predetermined number of history records specified by the userterminal, and when the user terminal has specified a retrieval requestfrom a library, a list of retrieval results responding to the retrievalrequest is displayed, and a retrieval result is specified from the list,so that the retrieval result can be directly referred to.
 10. The dataretrieval apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the retrieval requestissuing circuit is configured to handle a set item expressing aplurality of associated items by one concept, when the set item isspecified in an extraction condition of a retrieval request, theretrieval request issuing circuit is configured to set a condition valuewhile referring to values of the associated items included in the setitem, and the associated items included in the set item areautomatically added to a display item of a retrieval result by an inputoperation of the user terminal to add the set item to the display itemof the retrieval result.
 11. The data retrieval apparatus according toclaim 10, wherein the set item of the retrieval request issuing circuitis constituted by one or more items in hierarchical relation with eachother, when a value is selected from a list of items at an upper levelon a screen of the user terminal, a list of values of items at a lowerlevel associated with the selected value is displayed, and the userterminal is configured to specify a value to be an extraction conditionfor retrieval from the values displayed on the list of any level. 12.The data retrieval apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the virtualdatabase includes a retrieval request translation circuit that analyzesthe retrieval request according to the virtual data structure in thedata dictionary and generates a retrieval instruction for retrieval fromthe two or more databases; a retrieval instruction execution circuitthat executes the retrieval instruction generated by the retrievalrequest translation circuit on any one or more of the two or moredatabases to acquire two or more retrieved data; and a data integrationprocessing circuit that integrates and processes the two or moreretrieved data acquired by the retrieval instruction execution circuitto prepare a retrieval result responding to a data retrieval request.13. The data retrieval apparatus according to claim 12, wherein theretrieval request translation circuit is configured to: analyze theretrieval request according to the virtual data structure in the datadictionary; generate a retrieval instruction executable on a database toretrieve data from and a retrieval instruction executable by the dataintegration processing circuit; and input an output of a retrievalinstruction from a data integration processing circuit as a retrievalinstruction to another data integration processing circuit, so as togenerate retrieval instruction to perform data integration processing inmultiple stages.
 14. The data retrieval apparatus according to claim 12,wherein the retrieval request translation circuit is configured to:convert and apply an extraction condition for the virtual databaseindicated in a retrieval request into a retrieval instruction to thedatabase; execute classification and totaling requested in a retrievalrequest in advance in the database; and performing processing ofreferring to a master managing a subject static attribute at a stageafter data are aggregated without performing the processing duringretrieval of detailed data, so as to optimize the retrieval instructionto minimize a data amount transmitted from the database.
 15. The dataretrieval apparatus according to claim 12, wherein when the databasesupports an SQL language as a retrieval interface, the retrievalinstruction execution circuit includes at least one of: a retrievalinstruction execution circuit for retrieval using the SQL from aphysical table of the database; a retrieval instruction executioncircuit for retrieval using a stored procedure stored in the database;and a retrieval instruction execution circuit that performs retrievalagain from a retrieval result of retrieval defined directly by the SQLlanguage of the database, when the database does not support the SQLlanguage as a retrieval interface, the retrieval instruction executioncircuit includes a retrieval instruction execution circuit correspondingto a retrieval interface of the database, and when the database is adata file on a file system, the retrieval instruction execution circuitincludes a retrieval instruction execution circuit supporting for thedata file.
 16. The data retrieval apparatus according to claim 12,wherein the data integration processing circuit is configured toreceive, as input one or more of intermediate retrieved data acquired bythe retrieval instruction execution circuit and result data output byanother data integration processing circuit, performing data integrationand data processing, and outputting result data in a form of one table,and further passing the result data as input to another data integrationprocessing circuit, so as to perform data integration processing inmultiple stages.
 17. The data retrieval apparatus according to claim 12,wherein the data integration processing circuit includes any one or moredata integration schemes including: a merge scheme of mergingintermediate data obtained by extracting and totaling data from therespective databases and aggregating the merged data with a key; aselection scheme of automatically selecting, extracting, and totalingdata to be retrieved from retrieval candidates in a plurality ofdatabases according to a content of a retrieval request; and a referencescheme of acquiring reference data from one database according to areference condition predefined for each of records of intermediate dataacquired from another database, and complimenting an item missing fromthe intermediate data with an item from the reference data, and the dataintegration processing circuit configured to select an optimum schemefrom the data integration schemes.
 18. The data retrieval apparatusaccording to claim 17, wherein the reference scheme of the dataintegration schemes of the data integration processing circuit includesone or more reference processing schemes including: a successivereference scheme of performing sequential retrieval from a database forrespective records of intermediate data obtained by extraction andtotaling from another database according to a join condition, andintegrating retrieved data; a batch join scheme of transferringintermediate data extracted and totaled from one database to onedatabase management system, and integrating the transferred intermediatedata together or integrating the intermediate data and data in thedatabase management system by a join function of the database managementsystem; and a sequential merge scheme of acquiring data to be retrievedfrom a reference source and data to be retrieved from a referenceddatabase, rearranging the acquired data in an order of condition valuesof reference conditions, and thereafter, while sequentially readingreference source records and referenced database records one by one,comparing the condition values of the reference conditions, andintegrate records where the reference conditions are satisfied, and thedata integration processing circuit is configured to select an optimumscheme from the reference processing schemes.
 19. The data retrievalapparatus according to claim 12, wherein the data integration processingcircuit has functions of a classification and aggregation process ofgrouping data by a key item and aggregating values of attribute itemsfor each group, a data editing process on values of items, a dataextraction process according to a determination condition, and a sortingprocess according to specification of an outputting order, and the dataintegration processing circuit is configured to deal with computationdependent on relation between records and an order of records.
 20. Thedata retrieval apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the dataintegration processing circuit is configured to output result dataresulting from data integration and data processing to any of externaloutput destinations including: the business intelligence circuit;another data integration processing circuit; a table in a database; adata filed stored in a file system; and a data stream transmitted via anetwork.
 21. The data retrieval apparatus according to claim 12, whereinthe data integration processing circuit includes a retrieved data cachethat prepares in advance table data resulting from a data integrationprocess or intermediate retrieved data prepared by division resultingfrom execution of a retrieval instruction, storing the prepared data inan external storage area, and referring to data stored in the externalstorage area instead of a database during execution of retrieval. 22.The data retrieval apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the databaseincludes at least one of a relational database, an object-orienteddatabase, an XML database, a file system, a URL directory managementsystem, a data warehouse, and a data mart.
 23. A program causing acomputer to function as a data retrieval apparatus that retrieves datafrom two or more databases that return retrieved data in response to aretrieval instruction, the program causing the computer to function as:a data dictionary including presentation structure definitioninformation for assisting input of a user terminal to issue a retrievalrequest compliant with a retrieval requirement, virtual data structuredefinition information for analyzing the retrieval request andconverting the retrieval request into a retrieval instruction expressedas physical information processable by the database, and retrievalrequest definition information for managing relevance between differentretrieval requests; a business intelligence circuit for assisting inputof the user terminal according to the presentation structure defined inthe data dictionary to issue a retrieval request described according tothe presentation structure, and outputting a retrieval result based onthe virtual data structure, the retrieval result being obtained byexecuting the retrieval request by a virtual database, to the userterminal; and a virtual database for analyzing the retrieval requestaccording to the virtual data structure defined in the data dictionaryto generate a retrieval instruction, executing the generated retrievalinstruction in the database to acquire two or more retrieved data, andintegrating the acquired two or more retrieved data to prepare aretrieval result responding to the retrieval request, wherein the dataretrieval apparatus associates a plurality of retrieval results preparedin response to different retrieval requests with each other by theretrieval request definition information.
 24. The program according toclaim 23, wherein when the virtual database has prepared a plurality ofretrieval results in response to different retrieval requests associatedby the retrieval request definition information, the virtual databaseautomatically associates the prepared retrieval results with each other,and the business intelligence circuit prepares a plurality of reportsrespectively from the retrieval results associated by the virtualdatabase, and automatically associates the prepared reports with eachother.
 25. A computer-readable recording medium having the programaccording to claim 23 stored thereon.